The Cotton Wool Child

Nikiforidou, Zoi (2017) The Cotton Wool Child. In: Childhood Today. SAGE, London, pp. 11-22. ISBN 9781473989375

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Abstract

Risk and challenge are fundamental components of child development and wellbeing. Yet, concerns for danger, injury, and the threat of modern societies have led to the increase in regulation and provision intending to ensure secure, risk-free environments. Nevertheless, the confrontation of risk does not only lie in adults’ experience but is a lifelong skill that may be fostered from early childhood through risk literacy. The aim of this chapter is to explore the position of risk in children’s contemporary lives by drawing on the controversy between the cotton wool child and the ‘risk expert’ (Adams, 2006), risk literate child. It is proposed that besides safeguarding, there should be invested interest in supporting children to develop their own risk awareness and understanding of risk. Such implications signpost the importance of setting the foundations for risk literate children as present and future citizens in a sustainable, multimodal world.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	cotton wool child, risk literacy, early childhood
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Zoi Nikiforidou
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2017 14:53
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2024 12:20
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2089

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