When I write and present about risky play and Original Learning the word resilience often pops up, it’s an important word but I also think that the school system has taken it and uses in such a a way that it feels like children should have it so they can consume it, rather than how schools, and preschools, are contributing towards building and sustaining children’s resilience - their ability to deal and bounce back from adversity.
But what would happen if we started thinking about it in terms of capacity?
Do the children have the capacity to deal with their lives at home, their lives at school and learn? Just as teachers we should consider do I have the capacity to deal with my home-life, work-life and teach? Are the number of children, number of musts, number of children with extra demands from us, the number of meetings with parents, colleagues etc at a level that allows us to have the capacity to deal with any curve ball life throws at us, or is it that when something unexpected happens the workload does not allow us to be flexible enough to deal with it kindly, respectfully and with the value it deserves?
I think there are many educators around the world that are juggling so many balls, and doing it with remarkable dexterity, that the adding of a new ball, the changing of one of the balls means either it is ignored in order to continue juggling, or there is a risk of all the balls falling, or the juggling becomes less efficient, less joyous and constantly on the edge of collapse. We simply don’t have the capacity to take on yet another ball into our juggling act.
I think this is the same for children, except most adults are less aware of all the balls that they are juggling, and less aware of each child’s juggling capacity. Sometimes the slightest of things happen, and it is this tiny happening the nudges the child over their capacity and they fall apart, often to the great surprise of others around them. The thing is they have been keeping it together for so long managing the juggling act without adequate support or realisation that they don’t need to juggle all of those balls and we could remove some of them so that they do have the capacity to meet whatever the world throws at them.
Some children get over stimulated and overwhelmed easily - knowing how this happens can be a great way to ensure the children maintain their capacity to juggle their balls of life and learning. At the same time we support them to expand their capacity through developing strategies, learning new skills, and discovery knowledge that will help them make sense of the world.
In the Original Learning Approach the interweaving of play, learning and teaching is about capacity - that children remain within their capacity - this does not mean it is not challenging - as I describe in my Swedish book on risky play and teaching - risky play is at the edge of our capacity, where it is stressful in a positive sense, thrilling exciting, hard work and uncertain - it might include failure - but not the kind that makes you give up, the kind that helps you drive to master the skill/knowledge/action.
Just as dropping balls is a part of learning juggling is a part of the fun during play - it’s just not as fun during the performance - it becomes a negative stress. In educational settings the learning that happens in lessons can be likened to the performance, where getting it wrong has consequences… while in play it does not. This is the beauty of Original Learning - that there is time for play where capacity is allowed to flourish, expand and be nourished. Capacity is consumed in traditional teaching, a child can often be pushed to the edge of their capacity for extended lengths of time (and stress becomes negative if prolonged) or beyond their capacity - resulting in a child not being able to learn. Equally there might be some children who do not engage because it is too easy/boring in relation to their capacity. In my Swedish book I talk about risky play and learning not just being physical but also social, cognitive and emotional.
In the Original Learning Approach I write about the sweet spot of curiosity - that place where it is neither too hard (so the brain does not bother to try - because it is beyond capacity) or too easy or not relevant (so the brain does not engage because it does not serve expanding the brain’s capacity to adapt to a complex world). And just like I write and talk about risky play - this is all very personal - each person will have their own curiosity sweet spot, as well as their own capacity to learn - and as educators we should take the time to understand the individual and collective needs to support a learning community. Because the children can scaffold each other’s capacities too, it is not just the role of the adult in the room. Togetherness is also vital. Belonging is also connected to capacity. Do I have the capacity to be myself together with the rest of the class? Or do I have to fit in? And do I have the capacity to do that? All the time? Some of the time? None of them time? And what consequences are there?
It’s also important to consider that bother resilience and capacity is not a single quality but is complex and multilayered - we can be simultaneously resilient towards some aspects of life and not others - have the capacity to deal with some struggles and not others… and that this can change over time and situation.
For instance I have a high capacity to tolerate pain, except in certain parts of my body which are over sensitive. This makes it extremely difficult to know how to measure pain - for instance I did not need any painkillers after my twin (transverse and breach) c-section, and yet can howl with a slight unexpected touch to a few selected parts of my body which often results in some people thinking I am over-reacting - it makes no sense, not even to me.
Sleep and rest are also connected to capacity and resilience - and if there is excessive stress at home or at school then this is likely to impact their ability to sleep, which will reduce their capacity to manage their emotions, self-regulate reactions and their capacity to learn, which can lead to yet more stress… it’s a vicious circle.
This is why I think play is so central in children’s well-being - it is the agency to act and react within their own capacity. A way to test and expand it - if we are curating a rich, varied and creative ecosystem that is as safe as necessary to that children can experience liberation from their stresses.
For those of you who can afford it - I do have extra posts for those who contribute towards my work… at the moment these are adventure of my life exploring play and pedagogy - at the moment I am in Greece and yesterday I created a film in a playground here in Athens…