As we leave winter behind and welcome warmer weather, it’s the perfect time to encourage children to spend more time outdoors.

Dr Kelsie Prabawa-Sear, CEO of Nature Play WA, shares insights on how to motivate young children to reconnect with the joy of outdoor play.

Why Is It Hard to Motivate Kids to Play Outside?

It often depends on their age or lack of recent experience playing outdoors. Some children may not think about playing outside if they haven’t done it often, or they might wonder who they’ll play with. Bringing a friend along can suddenly make outdoor play more exciting. Every child has different interests, so sometimes it just takes time outside for them to remember what they love about being outdoors. Once they start playing, the endorphins and fresh air often keep them outside longer than expected.

How to Encourage Outdoor Play for Kids Under 10

• For kids who love kicking and chasing balls, outdoor ball games are a great go-to.
• For less competitive fun, try playful activities like what Kelsie did with her children, hitting a shuttlecock with Tupperware lids, which encourages laughter and creativity.
• In the backyard, provide simple items like empty buckets, pots, and pans with spoons for mixing “potions.”
• As kids grow, introduce real tools and natural objects like sticks to encourage tinkering and hands-on exploration, suiting all children regardless of gender.
• Offer open-ended play materials that sparkle creativity and science.

Getting children back outside with playful and creative options helps them rediscover the benefits of nature and active play, boosting their physical health, social skills, and overall happiness.

Article supplied with thanks to Sonshine.

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Susan Woodworth, from Walk and Talk Psychology, shares about perfectionism and why it can be both a strength and a struggle.

Is Perfectionism Good or Bad?

Susan explained that the term often sounds positive, but it can carry hidden costs.

“Sometimes perfectionists are so terrified of failure that they limit themselves only to activities where success is guaranteed.”

While aiming high can drive achievement, perfectionism often blocks progress, causes frustration, and delays productivity.

Spotting the Signs

So how do you know if it’s healthy striving or harmful perfectionism? Susan highlighted two key red flags:

• Unrealistic expectations.
• Strong emotional reactions to mistakes.

She explained, “If you get 80% on a test and spiral because you didn’t get 100%, that’s not functional anymore.”

Perfectionism can also appear as frustration, abandoning projects, or endlessly redoing tasks. “Sometimes people take three hours to write one paragraph because they want it perfect.”

Perfectionism in Children

Parents often wonder when perfectionism starts. Susan reassured listeners, “You don’t have perfectionist infants or toddlers.”

However, signs can appear in early childhood. For example, kids may repeatedly redo tasks until they get them exactly right. That persistence can be helpful, but if frustration or distress takes over, it becomes a concern.

Helping Kids Manage Perfectionism

Susan shared four key strategies for parents:

1. Praise Effort, Not Just Outcomes

“What matters more than the mark is the amount of effort you put into it.” Focusing on effort teaches children that persistence matters more than grades.

2. Reframe Mistakes as Learning

“Shift the focus from the threat, which is the mistake, to the opportunity, which is the learning.” Encourage kids to ask, What did I learn from this?

3. Model Imperfection

Parents can set the tone by showing self-compassion. “Talk about your own mistakes. How you handle them is what your children mirror.”

4. Don’t Shield Them From Failure

“Our job isn’t to protect them from the discomfort of imperfection, but to show them we love them no matter what.”

The Takeaway

Perfectionism can motivate excellence, but it often comes at a high emotional cost. By praising effort, reframing mistakes, modelling imperfection, and embracing failures, parents can help children develop resilience. As Susan reminded listeners: “We love them with imperfections and all.”

Article supplied with thanks to Sonshine.

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Before the age of two, most children think the world revolves around them. From their point of view, what they think and how they feel must be what others think and feel, too.

They don’t have the concept that other people have different needs and perspectives. It’s why if they can’t see you when they’re playing hide-and-seek, they believe you surely can’t see them.

At around two years old, they start developing what psychologists term “theory of mind”. Put simply, they start to recognise they are individuals, separate and distinct from other people. As their theory of mind forms, they begin to understand people can and will judge them on their behaviour and react to that perception accordingly. They start developing a fear of judgement or become self-conscious.

Theory of mind and fear of judgement is not necessarily a bad thing. Children can become more sensitive, considerate and thoughtful because they are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes. When taken in the right dosage, the knowledge that you are being judged can spur you on to become a better person.

Sensitivity to the perception of judgement can, however, get out of hand. In worst case scenarios, children can become depressed, anxious and avoid circumstances in which judgement is anticipated. In these instances, here are four tips:

1. Remind Them of Their Value

Explicitly and implicitly reinforce your child’s value and belonging with you as their primary safe haven in life. Remind them of the things you and their family appreciate and value about them.

2. Give Them Important  Mirrors

Our views of ourselves and the world (what researchers call “models of self and other”) are largely formed through interactions with important others. Parents are our first and most important mirrors: We look at them and their response to us tells us who we are. Educate your child about how different people can “bounce back” different views, and sometimes this is more about those people themselves than your child or what they’re doing.

3. Engage Self-compassion and Empathy

When your child experiences judgement (real or perceived), support them to practise speaking kindly to themselves when processing the experience. Encourage them to explore if there is an alternative explanation.

4. Seek Help

Sometimes, children and families really benefit from sessions with a child or family therapist to further explore and shift the negative models of self and other underlying judgement sensitivity.

Article supplied with thanks to Sign of the Times Magazine.

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By 2035, Generation Alpha will make up 24% of the global population, having been shaped in a digital world they come with unique perspectives, habits, and aspirations.

Generation Alpha are those born 2010-2024 and are currently aged 15 and under.

To try and see the world from their perspective, we teamed up with Zigazoo to develop an infographic asking Generation Alphas aged 7-15 how they like to learn, what they want to do for jobs and their feelings about the future.

Key insights in this infographic include:

• How Gen Alpha learn, spend and see the future
• Future aspirations
• How they feel about tech
• Optimism for the future

The Largest Generation in History

There are more than 2.1 billion Generation Alphas, making them the largest generation in history.

Gen Alpha prefer to learn by video than by reading, with more than 1 in 3 (36%) turning to videos to learn something new.

When it comes to money, Gen Alphas like to spend a little, and save a little. When asked what they would do with their pocket money, 46 percent took a balanced approach between saving and spending.

Asked about their future career aspirations, many Gen Alphas aspire to be traveling workers: “I want to travel and explore the world while building a business. I don’t want to be stuck in one place.” (Girl, 11)

A third of Gen Alphas are curious about technology. Around 1 in 5 are excited, with an equal number worried. Comments included: “It’s going to be really cool. There might be flying cars, robots building homes and service robots helping people.” (Girl, 11)

“I think there might be some really cool and interesting inventions, but I also think that there might be some that take over the world.” (Boy, 10)

Despite their concerns, 4 out of 10 Gen Alphas feel “very hopeful” about what the future holds: “The future gives you all new chances and you can do almost anything you want! You can try so many new activities and even graduate! It’s like a big treasure hunt!” (Girl, age 10)

View the Generation Alpha infographic

Article supplied with thanks to McCrindle.

About the Author: McCrindle are a team of researchers and communications specialists who discover insights, and tell the story of Australians – what we do, and who we are.

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