Do risky playgrounds reap rewards?

冒险性游乐场能收获回报吗?

Editor's Picks from The Economist

2026-07-23

9 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. Nordic countries are deliberately injecting measured risk back into childhood. This approach could lure children away from their screens. Topics covered: ScandinaviaParentingChild development Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • The Economist.

  • Hi there, it's Jason Palmer here, co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.

  • This is Editor's Picks.

  • You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.

  • Enjoy.

  • Visitor to the playground at Valberparken, a green expanse in Copenhagen, is in for three surprises.

  • The first is that the sprawling public children's park is built on what was once a rubbish tip for the Danish capital.

  • The second is the free coffee on offer for harried parents.

  • But perhaps the most unexpected is the eagerness of the playground staff to hand out knives to children,

  • or axes if they prefer, or even, for tots bored with mere weaponry, some fire-starting equipment.

  • Off you go, kids, and do be careful.

  • Oh, and parents, please keep an eye on them.

  • Sprogs of an age that in most countries would barely be allowed onto a swing unattended scamper away to whittle sticks

  • and soon imagine themselves carving their own magic wand or the oar of a Viking longship.

  • The knife-dispensing strategy may appear to some as an oversight

  • that keeps the local hospital bustling with injured kids in summer.

  • On the contrary.

  • Injecting a dose of risk into children's free-ranging fun is a feature, not a bug.

  • The nature-based playground offers a litany of ways for children to get bruised, bumped, scratched and dirty.

  • There are trees to climb, brambly branches to rearrange, tricycles to ride, often into each other,