What's the deal with those 'wild' Danish kids?

I saw this video and article and thought I would share. It's great to see these kindergarten kids being treated and acting like children. Children having fun, outside of a bubble of protection. While here in the US, our children are being denied fun physical activities because of the risk factors. A simple Google search brings up results such as these:

"School bans balls during recess due to safety concerns..."
"Some schools ban 'dangerous' playground games"
"Not it!" More schools ban games at recess"
"Wimpy-Ass Scool Bans Non-Nerf Balls From Playground"

According to the video, people are coming from all over the world in amazement to see this program. Have we really forgotten how to be little roughneck children, swinging sticks, stomping through mud puddles and sliding on our asses down a dirt hill? Would our children have less frustration in dealing with daily living if they could run and play like this? Maybe a lot of civil unrest could be cured with some physical exertion.

I do wonder however, if one of the children happened to become severely injured, paralyzed or killed during one of these excursions, what might the ensuing effect be?

A few weeks ago, a video came out from a programme in Australia bout a day in the life of a forest kindergarten in Skive in northern Denmark (see it below). It was so shocking for so many around the world that the story went viral.

In the video, children can be seen playing outside in freezing and raining weather, climbing extremely tall trees with no safety net and wading through mud puddles near open water. They are seen rolling down steep, wet, tree dotted hills and whittling sticks with real knives.

www.thelocal.dk...

Here are some screen shots from the video





Here's the video (11.33 minutes) showing the children in their 'very dangerous' activities.
Full link: www.youtube.com... in case I didn't put the correct data in the vid number box.

Places like this in America...


It's called "grow'n up country..."

a reply to: StoutBroux

i was told my kid cant run on the playground it was against school policy, it was my kids teacher telling me this she was not at all happy about it

Ha! When I went to pick mine up from school on Monday, he had a nice black eye. His school still lets them play tag and other games like it. They also have a gym program. Seems mine got nailed in the face by a Frisbee in gym.

They have to learn somehow, and you can't bubblewrap them.

Just about two weeks before that he was playing ball with his cousins over Easter and one of them threw the bat instead of dropping it after a hit. Mine got nailed in the face. Bloody nose, fat lip, bruised baby tooth and bloody gums.

When he was 3, he broke his collar bone playing with a toy bus.

When he was 2, he was toddling through the living room with his sippy cup, tripped and split his lip on it ... took 2 stitches.

You can't protect them. You do more damage to them if you try.

a reply to: StoutBroux

That video reminded me about my kindergarten, i'm from Denmark and as a child i went to forest kindergarten too.

It's really the best form of kindergarten, as we learn and experience a lot all seasons.

a reply to: ketsuko

Hellofa way to learn a little grace hey......
That's the way I was brung up too.....
Freedom must be learned to be earned....

a reply to: bandersnatch

It's not like I don't try to keep him out of trouble. I do actually, but he's a boy and plays like it.

a reply to: ketsuko

I had two of em.....still do but theyre men now.....and independent caring dudes they are....
Ill never understand why kids are not allowed to be .....kids....
It seems this generation coming up are suffering because of the parents have no clue anymore....
I cannot abide this entitled bunch of wimpy souls of today...
A reset is in order....
5 yr olds who can use a cell phone but cant play ball just don't cut it in my world...
Whatever happened to us all.....

a reply to: bandersnatch

I think in the US the protection in kindergarten is more because of fears of law suits, and in parents cases, removal of children because of a neighbor .

That's how i grew up,as did most South African kids in the 60's and 70's.I was actually a total tomboy till age 15+half,and kept really fit well into my 20's.It stands the body in good stead as one ages,that good healthy foundation.

a reply to: ketsuko

my kid got into playing rough with a cousin.

she had floor rash on her forehead after her cousin sat on her head.

sometimes you gotta let them get roughed up.

I had a neighbour who let his little girl help him out with practically everything. It was sweet to see her toddling about in the garden with her wellies and watering can.

It looked as if she had a pretty idyllic childhood to look forward to, but even I did a double-take a year or so before that when he had her strapped to his back whilst he was up on the scaffolding fixing the roof.

a reply to: StoutBroux

Lol i bet 95% of ATS can relate

I used to be amused with sticks and mud cooking flowers playing StarTrack on hoop house sliding down tiny hills on plastic bag cute thank you

a reply to: berenike

Oh, the one that got me was when I came down to do laundry and found out that daddy had him outside on the drive (ours slopes an entire story down from street level with a wicked curve to it) and was letting him essentially drift on his green plastic four wheeler.

I looked at his daddy (my husband) and said, "You know he's going to wipe out sooner or later?" Daddy nodded and said, "Yep." with this big grin on his face. I said, "It's on you then. I'm going in before it happens."

He never did wipe out, but I couldn't stand there and see it happen in my head.

a reply to: Raxoxane

My brother and I played like this, I actually chased him up a huge tree and he fell out of it.... He bounced well.

The harder you play, the healthier you are as an adult.

This is daily life here in Denmark

My own son, 5 years old, came home a week ago... Told how hed been cutting wood with a sharp knife. I inquired who helped him and he gave me thorough instructions on how to cut wood.... Spread legs, cut away from yourself and so on... I was impressed and not worried. Even if he cut himself by accident I wouldnt deny him the opportunity.

When he was a little younger he fell inside and planted his face in one of those plastic boxes you can keep toys in. The box unfortunately was broken and a spike came out and impaled his tongue. He was very upset and sad, but got over it in 10 minutes.
We never once thought about sueing the kindergarden for neglect..... things happen, just happy it wasn't worse.

I think this more or less a general thing for kindergardens outside the big cities. Kids get to tumble around.... Plant flowers and fruit and vegetables (ecological!!!), and then eat them when ready.

I wouldnt have any other way.

For the more wild kids we have outdoor kindergardens. Where the kids are litterally outside every day all year. They learn all the skills you can be being in nature; build tents, make fires and so on and so on.

You cant teach a kid to respect something or how to handle something by keeping them away from it... By keeping them shielded.
You have to plunge them into it and guide and support them.

a reply to: ketsuko

You can't protect them. You do more damage to them if you try.

Don't try to wrap them up in cotton wool granted, but i disagree that you can't protect them, and would do more harm if you tried to.

You would probably be curious at the amount of ambulance sirens almost continually screaming day and night around my area...until you see the amount of barefooted, latch-key, grubby and scruffy looking toddlers and young kids wandering around the streets, crossing busy main roads alone, and playing IN the roads...then you'll understand the ambulance sirens, and that yes, you can and do have a duty as a parent to protect your kids, and you can actually mitigate harm to them by applying the one factor that seems to be almost dying out...a healthy dose of common sense.

a reply to: MysterX

With all due respect, I think you're missing the point.

Negligence is quite a different thing to what is being discussed.

a reply to: StoutBroux

I remember how in elementary school we couldn't even run...though dont quote me. Memories fuzzy

a reply to: StoutBroux

I think there is definitely a cultural difference and it seems to be predominantly a blame culture in the US preventing things like this from being considered possible.

In the US everything is someone else's fault. If your kid gets a broken arm falling out of a tree, the parents take the state or city to court for not having railings around every tree, or not having a sign for the brain dead telling them a broken bone is possible, or not guiding them as parents to be proper parents - everything is always someone else's fault and nothing ever happens just because, or for their own incompetence as parents.

I would also recommend not believing everything you read about schools banning this or banning that. We get that in the UK all the damned time, and 90% of the time it's utter tripe printed by the right-wing trash rags looking for any excuse to make people angry over their breakfast.

A perfect example is one of the supposed EU laws from Brussels which mandated that bananas had to be straight.
That was printed in the Daily Heil with the preaching loon writing "you couldn't make it up!" - they did make it up. It was a story concocted by bored journalists in a Brussels pub who wanted to see whether the ignorant tabloid press in the UK would buy it. Of course the Daily Heil was the first one to start ranting about this fictional law without bothering to check that it was actually true.

So, before people believe that all these things are happening, dig a little deeper, you'll probably find that most of them are nothing but right-wing propaganda attempting to paint society a certain way.