Nursery World - Superhero Play

How can early years practitioners encourage children to become active helpers, rather than passive bystanders? Tamsin Grimmer explains

Many people assume bullying does not happen within early childhood settings, due to the young age of the children involved. Sadly, this is not always the case, and there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that bullying can begin at a very young age, usually between three and six years (Kirves & Sajaniemi 2012, Repo and Sajaniemi 2015).

Bullying could be defined as an occasion when an individual is repeatedly aggressive towards, or deliberately tries to hurt or cause distress to, another individual.

This is usually linked to an imbalance, when the bully dominates the victim and the victim struggles to defend themselves. However, aggressive play, sometimes in superhero scenarios, is a normal type of interaction that many children engage in, and thus it is important to distinguish between bullying and aggressive play by young children.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included