The Chinese participants were nearly getting their tea in the wrong throat, when Mads Brodersen, from Vends Motorik- og Naturskole [Vend’s Motor Skills and Nature School] turned up on the screen at the conference in Shenzhen, and among other things said that children have the right to try limits when they are out in nature. He is a big advocate for educators to let the play be free and to let children try their hand at nature. He believes that if you want to be smart about the world, you have to learn to sense it, and if the children do not have good motor skills, then the prerequisites for learning and creativity will be impaired. "If our children are to be clever heads, then they must have the opportunity to get mud on their face - and all other sorts of sensory impressions, of course.”

He explained how research has shown that children who are not allowed to experiment with relevant risk, will later in their lives have a higher risk of getting injured more often and more seriously than those children who have learned to master relevant risk. In the interview, he emphasized his point: “In fact, I tend to argue that children are entitled to the opportunity to break an arm.

Far from Chinese thinking

Mads' approach is far from that of Chinese teachers and educators, who first and foremost think about safety, and are terrified that the children will hurt themselves and get injured. The presentation, however, was an eye-opener, which subsequently led to discussion at the conference on security, and about whom security is ultimately most important to.

“I’m so interested in learning how to use the environment (forest, nature) to give children space to discover and to explore. The reason is that we have always been used to consider the safety of children first and we are very afraid of children getting hurt. When we saw the video of how Danish children freely and happily play and learn in nature, we were so shocked”, fortæller Ms. Lai, leder i Shenzen Jinying Early Childhood  Education Organization.