Moving Away from "Be Careful!"
This episode of the Mindful Turtle Podcast originally aired November 17, 2024. To receive podcast updates and other nature-based early childhood education news, subscribe to Samara Early Learning’s weekly newsletter written by Dr. Rachel A. Larimore.
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In this episode of the Mindful Turtle, Rachel explores how the seemingly innocent phrase "be careful" is impactful in nature-based early childhood education—but it may not be having the impact we desire.
This week’s invitation is to monitor the use of these phrases, not for self-criticism, but to increase awareness of how language affects children's engagement.
In nature-based education we encourage risky play. To be successful children need to:
Notice the surroundings
Evaluate benefits and risks of an activity
Tune into how they’re feeling in their body
If you’ve been in the field for awhile you may have eliminated “be careful” but have you replaced it with other phrases that are similar?
For example:
Watch out!
Saying the child’s name like “Oh, Alicia!”
Yikes! That looks scary
You can’t…
Even “don’t” (as opposed to “do this instead…” which requires a different cognitive load)
All of these phrases are creating noise and distraction without encouraging children to notice what is happening, providing children with suggestions to help keep them safe, or drawing their attention to how they’re feeling in their body at a given moment. So this week, simply spend some time taking stock of if and when we say “be careful.”
