Do children today live in environments that are too safe? What does having some level of risk mean for the development of the child? Have we become so risk-averse that children are now developing problems because of a risk-free environment? If so, what can we do, and what risks are "good risks"?


Griffin Longley is an award-winning journalist, weekly columnist with The West Australian Newspaper, manager of a program for at-risk kids called Midnight Basketball, father, and CEO of Nature Play WA. Before that he had a short and inglorious career as a basketball player and worked as a cook, bartender and stonemason. He began his journalism cadetship in 2001 at the Bunbury Herald and Southwest Times, moved to The West Australian in 2002 and then into feature and column writing in 2004. Griffin left the newsroom in 2007 after his eldest daughter fell ill and began working as a freelance columnist focussing on issues around childhood, families and the modern world.

In 2010, Griffin helped the WA Department of Sport and Recreation build Nature Play WA Inc. to promote the importance of unstructured play outside and in nature. Nature Play WA is now a successful organisation with an international reputation for innovative programs that increase awareness of the benefits of unstructured play outdoors.

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