A Qualitative Exploration of Parents' Perceptions of Risk within an Adventure Playground

Anthony Stephen Bourque
2021
Risk-aversion is prevalent in North America, and the literature has suggested that Adventure Playgrounds may be an appropriate intervention to re-introduce risky play into children's lives. However, even within spaces that allow for more risk-taking during play, children's participation may be restricted due to parental concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' perceptions of their children's risk-taking during play (risky play) in the context of an Adventure Playground, the
more » ... vo Play Hub (VPH). Parents who had previously visited the VPH, were recruited online through community Facebook groups and asked to participate in semi-structured interviews with photo elicitation. The method of interpretive description guided the study and elements of narrative inquiry were engaged to present the findings. Three themes were created through analysis, 1) consequences explored the worries parents experienced about their parenting interventions, 2) risky parenting questioned what it meant for parents to support (or not support) risky play, 3) simply play brought attention
doi:10.7939/r3-q3k5-xv55 fatcat:zmlvdqarq5gnhpm54nrixpt5qy