Pain. Risk. Failure. The 3 things we need to protect children from… Or do we?

I heard the very same 3 words at a recent conference by a very charismatic and knowledgable presenter, Michael McQueen. Michael covered these points and their context in Australian schools and his presentation strongly resonated with me.

Many people have heard the a story around where a young student has fallen off the monkey bars at school and grazed their knee or knocked a tooth out. The next thing you know, the Principal receives a phone call from a lawyer, advising the school is being sued for negligence.

In addition, if you have been following the CyberHound Blog, you might have caught the article Where it Matters Where Children Finish in a Race – describing how ‘being able to lose’ is very important in the development of a child’s resilience.

So why is Australian culture shifting towards this ‘blame game’ instead of telling the children to get up and wipe their tears away and move on?

One reason might be that Australia’s is significantly influenced by American culture, whereby their legal system encourages us to be victims. 10-15 years ago, we wouldn’t have seen the ‘no win no fee’ advertising campaigns bombarding us on billboards, TVs and the radio.

The reality is Pain, Risk and Failure are the 3 things children need to experience to be resilient, adjusted and balanced adults.

CyberHound’s philosophy is just the same – you could block Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and any website that mentions drugs on a school’s network. This won’t teach students to use the internet responsibly… It won’t teach them how to deal with malicious or predatory attacks… And, it limits the teaching/learning tools available in schools.

For a sneak peak on what we can do in schools to provide transparency on Facebook, click here.