Learning & Development: Violent Play - Rough stuff

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A group of four-year-olds lurch towards their victim. ‘We’re zombies!’ they shriek, kicking and biting. Violence has always been part of children’s play, but today’s relative ease of access to age-inappropriate material can lead to play that adults and other children may find particularly disturbing.

Parents may be aware of the media’s influence but often feel overwhelmed by the prospect of limiting their children’s exposure to it. Early years practitioners face two separate challenges: a child’s potential exposure to inappropriate images, and managing the play that results from that exposure.

SAFEGUARDING

‘If you suspect that a child has been watching inappropriate content, it is important to have those sensitive discussions with parents,’ says Jo Baranek, lead early years adviser at the NDNA. ‘Establish what exactly they have seen and what they have just heard about – many children say they have watched something at the weekend when in fact they haven’t, but maybe their big brother has told them about it or they heard a conversation adults have had about a programme or film.’

If a practitioner finds that a child has, in fact, watched a particular film, show or game, they should speak to the parents about the importance of making sure children see only what is age-appropriate. ‘This is particularly important for pre-school children,’ says Ms Baranek. ‘Don’t let them watch anything which doesn’t have a Universal or Parental Guidance classification, including video games. If you have any safeguarding concerns about a child, follow your usual procedure.’

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

The argument about a link between violent images and aggression is long-standing and largely unresolved. However, a body of evidence has found some children are more vulnerable than others when exposed to violent images. Some studies have also shown that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behaviour for both males and females. Such exposure has been found to contribute to a child’s sense that the world is more dangerous than it is and to desensitise children to future violence.

‘If you see signs of violence and blood regularly, that would imply you are living in a very dangerous environment, so your survival response becomes programmed to match that environment,’ explains Robin Balbernie, consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist and clinical director at Parent Infant Partnership UK. ‘Children develop a hair-trigger response to signs of risk and danger, going straight into action and short-circuiting thought.

‘Very young children’s minds are very impressionable and it is not helpful for them to be exposed to these images,’ agrees Kathryn Fenton, child and adolescent psychotherapist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. ‘The level of concern would depend on the context, whether there are other concerns about that child such as their general behaviour or their relationships with other children.’

ADULT SUPPORT

When violent play gets out of hand, it is tempting for adults to step in and put a stop to it altogether. However, this ‘zero tolerance’ approach often has the effect of encouraging deceit, as children continue to play covertly. Skilled, high-quality adult supervision and interaction, on the other hand, can remove the likelihood of children getting hurt or frightened, and move the play into more creative channels. This also allows for conversations about where the children saw the stories they are replicating, and how they felt about what they saw.

Jane Katch is the author of Under Deadman’s Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children’s Violent Play, in which she describes her approach to dealing with a group of children who acted out particularly violent fantasies. As an example, one child in a class of five- and six-year-olds would hand another an apple, calling it a hand grenade, and telling his friend to blow himself up by exploding the grenade while sitting in the special suicide seat.

‘One of the kids was watching some very inappropriate movies, and a small group of boys were fascinated by this and by what he was saying,’ says Ms Katch. ‘The most important thing is talking to parents about what their kids are watching: we sent a letter home, explaining this was interfering with kids’ learning, they couldn’t concentrate as they were so disturbed by it.’

Ms Katch was worried parents would think she was interfering but many expressed gratitude for giving them a reason to ask friends and relatives not to let their child be exposed to this material.

‘When kids are worried about something, they play it out in the same way adults would talk about something – if we tell them they can’t it is like telling an adult they can’t talk about what is troubling them,’ she says. ‘Then they lie about it, pretend the play guns are fire hoses – I felt I was just teaching kids how to lie.’

Nurseries have a fine line to tread when it comes to violent play. ‘Some children have parents in the armed forces or who are police officers, so they are acting out what they hear about,’ says Ms Baranek. ‘However, there is crime in the world, on the news, and children hear about it, so it is important to get the message out that guns are not good and can hurt or kill people.’ Some children may have experienced violence in real life and it is important to be aware of this when developing a gun-play policy.

JOINING IN

For children whose experience of violence comes through the media, it can be instructive to become part of their game in order to show them the real consequences of violence, and initiate discussions about life and death.

‘I remember a group of children who spent a lot of time going “pow, you’re dead”,’ says Kathryn Solly, early years consultant and author. ‘But they did not have the conceptual understanding of what happens then. When they “shot”’ me, I lay on the floor and asked, “What happens now?” They suggested an ambulance could come and make me better, and I explained nobody could make me better because I was dead.’

PLAYING BY THE RULES

Superhero play is a favourite with four- to five-year-olds as at this age they want more control over their lives. Creating their own fantasy world gives them that control, while also enabling them to try out, or revisit, frightening experiences.

Setting out clear rules for this kind of play is important, and this could include setting up a ‘superzone’ where the play will take place, allowing children who want to avoid it to do so. If a child is trying to involve a friend who doesn’t want to be part of their game, the practitioner could suggest they be a hero and find someone who needs saving, as well as pointing out that some people are afraid of play guns.

Violent play can have two elements: violent fantasy and actual violence towards other children. ‘Fantasy content you cannot legislate,’ says Ms Katch. ‘You can’t tell kids what to think about, but you can help them play it so they are not hurting anyone.’

She set out safety rules, such as no touching and standing two arm lengths away in pretend fighting. The children came up with rules to regulate the fantasy side of things. ‘They said you couldn’t have too much blood, no guts could come out of a person’s body, they had to play it in a particular area, and they decided only to play it at alternate recesses so they could play with children who didn’t want to play that game as well.’

Ms Baranek agrees with the importance of rules. ‘If a child wants to play with a pretend sword, gun or any weapon, why not tell them that, as in real life, they will need a licence to use it. Put rules in place or ask the children to think up the rules – for example, if you hit someone with a sword, your licence gets revoked.’

CASE STUDY

Practitioners at Ambergate Playgroup in Derbyshire recognised that a group of children at the setting needed some adult intervention to help them explore weapon play in a positive way.

‘They would spend the morning shouting “Bang bang!” at each other,’ explains manager Kate Nutbourne. ‘For some of the children, guns are part of their life, whether that’s because of hunting, sport or parents in the armed forces; we had to think about how we approach guns without “criminalising” the parents.’

Staff discussed the issue as a team, talked to the children, then introduced some play guidelines. These include ‘only play with those wanting to take part’, ‘no shooting at faces or people (if this upsets them)’ and ‘no hurting people or living creatures or causing any damage’.

‘The best option is to dive on in and be a part of the play. That way you can direct where you would like the learning to go, in a positive way, by following the children’s interests,’ says Ms Nutbourne. ‘For example, we didn’t want them to use replica guns. Some look very real, so we decided we would rather they made the weapons through junk-modelling. That brings another skill into it.’

The children also made targets to shoot and wristbands to indicate their team, activities which engaged some children the team had previously struggled to motivate in creative mark-making.

‘They were so engaged in making resources, they never got to the point of pretending to shoot each other,’ says Ms Nutbourne. ‘A lot of the play we were trying to manage now just doesn’t happen.’

MORE INFORMATION

http://web.comhem.se/u45381271/12/sem2/browne05.pdf

www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/dev-392201.pdf

‘To infinity’, ‘Super!’ and ‘All about…superhero play’ by Nicole Weinstein; ‘Let’s explore…bad guys’ by Marianne Sargent; and ‘Zap! Pow!’ by Helen Bromley (a round-up of superhero books) are at: www.nurseryworld.co.uk

Katch J (2001)Under Deadman’s Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children’s Violent Play. Beacon Press

Hoffman E (2004)Magic Capes, Amazing Powers: Transforming Superhero Play in the Classroom. Redleaf Press

Holland P (2003) We Don’t Play with Guns Here: War, Weapon and Superhero Play in the Early Years. Open University Press

Paley VG (1984)Boys and Girls: Superheroes in the Doll Corner. University of Chicago Press