Child Care Bar And Grill

Why do kids love playful aggression like roughhousing, pretending to be superheroes, or playing with toy weapons? In The Playvolution HQ Podcast episode, Jeff Johnson dives into playful aggression, explaining why it’s natural, beneficial, and essential for children’s development. Learn how rough-and-tumble play fosters growth across physical, social-emotional, cognitive, adaptive, and communicative domains, and discover practical tips for creating environments that support this type of play. Jeff also introduces a fun DIY project—the “Amazing Rough-and-Tumble Sidekick”—perfect for supporting active, self-directed play at home or in early learning programs. Episode Video Watch Now: PHQP_0001 The Benefits of Playful Aggression Episode Notes Large Blocks Of Uninterrupted Time | Core Value 1 The Benefits Of Playful Aggression The Amazing Rough And Tumble Sidekick 5 Key Developmental Domains Understanding Danger, Hazard, And Risk Top 10 Books For Understanding The Value Of Child-Led Play And Exploration Reading List 6 Critical Reasons Adults Interrupt Children’s Play 4 Simple Tips For Creating Environments That Minimize Play Interruptions Free Forms | Interruption Observation From 6 Harmful Effects Of Play Interruption Show Notes Subscribe | Video Episodes or Audio Episodes Contact Jeeves The Intern | jeeves@playvolutionhq.com Contact Jeff | podcast@playvolutionhq.com Support The Show Via Amazon | Shop Jeff’s Amazon Associate link Support The Show With A Membership | Become a member Make A One-Time Contribution | Buy us a shot Share Content | Share photos and short videos of kids at play Visit | Playvolution HQ or Explorations Early Learning About | Jeff Training | Learn about upcoming online events or booking an event The Benefits of Playful Aggression Transcript Hey, welcome to the Playvolution HQ podcast. I’m Jeff Johnson. Thanks for pushing play on with the show. Topic one for this episode: who is this show for? Well, I thought this would be a good thing to clarify here at the beginning of the show, so nobody listens if it might not be for them. I think the show is first for professional caregivers, people who work on a daily basis with young children. Next up, parents who are interested in play and playful learning and knowing more about those things so that they can understand the play that’s going on at home and be more thoughtful about selecting early learning programs for their children to make sure their kids are getting what they need. And I think also maybe a subset of parents who are homeschooling young children, either preschool or early elementary kids, may also find value in the show. And then beyond that, anyone interested in how children learn through play, because that’s gonna be one of the big themes here of the show. Moving on, topic two: core values. I was trying to put together some core values for the show, and the list kept getting longer and longer, so I thought I would spend the first dozen or so episodes introducing those. So this is part one of what I think the core of this show is, and basically, the core of early learning. Later on, I’ll share some links to a reading list I put together of top 10 books that really get into the research and information behind these core values if you wanna check those out. So first one is young children need large blocks of uninterrupted time for self-directed play and exploration. I wanted to break that down. So young children. Here at Playvolution HQ, I think young children covers everybody from birth to age 10. I know some organizations cut it off around age eight. I think that’s a little bit too early. I think that’s kind of leading to some of the age compression that’s going on. So young children, kids under the age of 10. Large blocks. What are we talking about with large blocks of time? I’m talking hour-plus blocks of time where kids get to be the choosers. This is a problem in a lot of early learning settings because the day is broke down into little 30 minutes, maybe 25 or 15-minute blocks of time. And so not only don’t kids have an opportunity to go deep into their play, they’re always going through a transition time. So one of the things we’re gonna advocate on this show is big blocks of time and fewer transitions during the day. Uninterrupted. So what’s that all about? That’s about us adults getting up in their business when they’re playing. Children should be really a lot more free to do their own thing. So, we need to stop interrupting them so much. And by doing their own thing, I mean self-directed. They should be the rule makers and the problem solvers and the organizers and the material gatherers of their play because that pre-play stuff is all part of the play process. So all the getting ready, the planning, the organizing, the solving problems that come up in the play that should be owned by the children. That’s self-directed. And then, finally, play and exploration. There’s not time in this episode to go deep into that, but basically that’s what this show is about. Play, I think the best definition of play is Dr. Peter Gray’s five conditions of play. And we will spend more time on that in future episodes. And exploration, that’s basically, let’s consider that going out and getting hands-on with the world. Young children are hands-on active learners. They need to engage with the world. They need to touch, feel, and mess with it. Topic three: the benefits of playful aggression. I think a lot of programs, a lot of parents have some concerns about children acting aggressively. This is an article I put together on the Playvolution HQ website. It’s called The Benefits of Playful Aggression. There is a link in the episode notes for this episode on this, but basically breaks this topic down. First up, I wanna talk about the learning that goes on in this play. Playful aggression, we’re talking about rough and tumble play and superhero play and weapons play, covers all five developmental domains of learning when kids are engaging in this kind of play in an environment that’s thoughtfully supported by adults. So there’s physical development, there’s communicative development, there’s social-emotional development, there’s cognitive development, and there’s adaptive development. That might be a category of learning that you might be unfamiliar with. That pretty much lumps in all of the stuff kids are learning about how to survive and thrive and get along in the world. We’ll be talking about those five things more in future episodes of this show. And this article, the bulk of it is giving examples of those kinds of learning in aggressive play. But before we get there, I think we need to look at what aggressive play is. And it’s the grappling, pushing, punching, kicking, rough and tumble, superhero, like I mentioned. And children have a drive for this kind of play. The drive to engage in such play is inborn. Children take part in such play because it benefits their development. This drive is so strong that kids will do it even if it’s prohibited. They’ll still engage in it, even though they have to suffer consequences. If you’ve got an early learning program and if you have banned rough and tumble play or superhero play or weapons play, it’s going on. And you probably maybe spend a fair amount of your time trying to stop it. Instead of trying to make these types of play taboo, we need to look for ways to support them and invest time and energy and resources in them. And so there are two reasons I think we tend to shut down playful aggression. One is that it looks violent. On the surface, it can look violent. And the other is we consider it dangerous. We worry about the kid’s safety. We worry about parents being upset if a child gets a bump or a scratch or a scrape, those kinds of things. And so first, thinking about that appearance of violence, I think it’s essential to distinguish between playful aggression and violence. And it’s pretty simple. Violence involves an intent to harm. Playful aggression doesn’t. Playful aggression is a consensual act. Kids choose to rough-and-tumble, and grapple, and kick, and punch, and wrestle with each other. Their perseverance choose to engage in the activity. It looks violent, but it isn’t. It can turn violent because somebody might get grabbed or pushed a little bit harder than they like, and then they become violent. And so one of our jobs as supporters of this is mitigating hazards. We need to be paying attention to the children’s playfaces and putting down tumbling mats and doing those kinds of things. When it comes to mitigating hazards, one of the things I think we need to do is clarify our language. A danger is something that may cause harm. A hazard is a danger that is not easily seen or predicted. And a risk is an informed choice to do something that may or may not cause harm. And so our primary job in keeping playful aggressive play safe is to mitigate the hazards, to make sure they’re not engaging in rough and tumble play around tables with sharp corners, make sure we’ve got a tumbling mat down, make sure kids understand consent. And that kids can choose to engage in a play and they can choose to stop. And these kinds of things make it a little bit easier for us to do. And then also wrapping our head around the fact that since kids are hands-on learners, it’s gonna come with some bumps, bruises and scratches and scrapes. And we should expect those kinds of things as part of the activity. And then the article goes on to cover those developmental domains and go into a couple examples in each one of those domains. So that’s basically what we’re talking about there. Again, link to that article is in the episode notes. I’ve got show notes, which is basically what you need to know about the show as a whole. Those aren’t gonna change very often. And then episode notes, which will be specific to each episode. So there are plenty of links in the show notes, the topic, you’ll find the links

As Jeff yells Last Call at the Child Care Bar And Grill, Lisa orders another drink. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Nicole and Jeff clarify that loose parts don’t have to be mobile. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Sally and Jeff chat about dealing with your stuff. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Brett and Jeff start chatting about a broken relationship…the conversation spirals from there. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Brett and quizzes Jeff on Gen Alpha slang. This episode is so sigma. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Lisa and Jeff discuss a big theme of the show’s run–taking risks and doing the scary thing. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Carol and Jeff discuss play resources for parents and homeschoolers. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Carol and Jeff discuss focusing on educating kids for life, not just careers. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Stephanie and Jeff discuss the difference between violence and aggression. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Lisa and Jeff wonder what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and who you’re doing it for. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

SAm and Jeff Discuss jobs, school, staff, maturation, and more. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Rebecca and Jeff discuss building relationships with parents you don’t click with. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Rebecca and Jeff have a wandering conversation covering pets, tarantula cemeteries, death, STEM, and more. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Lisa and Jeff remember mentor and friend Dan Hodgins. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Here’s a tease for the new Playvolution HQ podcast I’m launching in January 2025. It’ll be released in both audio and video formats. Unlike the Child Care Bar And Grill podcast, the weekly episodes will never last more than 20 minutes and there will be no swearing. The topic will be play–defining it, supporting it, promoting it, and enjoying it. You can check out the video version of the tease here: PHQP_0000 The Tease Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Jeff revisits the topic of Big Feelings with Tamar. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Brett tells Jeff about her new job and which Hogwarts House baby Ivy sorted herself into. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Nicole and Jeff discuss kids bringing stuff from home to their early learning setting. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more

Nicole and Jeff talk about quiet kids. Thanks for listening! Links Visit Playvolution HQ Visit playvolutionhq.com/ccbag for cohost links, show archives, and more