Not that 2020 has that many highlights, but doing Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast was one of them for me. What a smart, funny, thoughtful guy — an anthropology major! (Which explains why he brought up hunter/gatherers.) Over at Let Grow we boiled down his parenting practices, including my favorite: His refusal to pretend to […]
Archive | 2020
Police Use Beautiful 23-Year-Old Cop to Entrap Guys as Child Predators. This Is Not Making Kids Any Safer
Want to save kids from rape and molestation? Me too. Unfortunately, instead of going after actual sexual predators, some police officers have discovered that it’s easier to just trick people. These cops go on adult dating sites, pose as grown women, find lonely guys, flirt, and then claim they are actually underage. But the photos […]
Dax Shepard and Yours Truly Talking About Parenting, Crows, and Why He Doesn’t…
…constantly praise his daughters. It’s all there in a rollicking 2-hour conversation we had on his “Armchair Expert” podcast. WOW DID I LOVE DOING THAT PODCAST! Hope you love it too. Click here to hear it!
Are Kids in Other Countries Raised to be More Resourceful, Curious and Self-Regulating?
On my “Supervision Not Required” Podcast This Week: Are Kids in Other Countries More Independent? Â The short answer is yes, often, but in surprising ways. I talk with Christine Gross-Loh, who has raised her kids in America and Japan, while also traveling the rest of the globe. In Japan, the parents don’t worry about […]
Kids and Cardboard: Perfect Together
What do kids with approximately 127 hours of free time a day, thanks to COVID, do? They get creative. They also seem to get out the X-Acto knives. (Yay!) We harnessed this kid superpower by holding a Let Grow Cardboard Contest, and are pleased today to announce our winners. Check them out by clicking here. […]
Study Finds Young Teens’ Anxiety Levels DROPPED During Lockdown
A study of 1,000 kids aged 13 and 14 in England found their anxiety levels dropped when in-person school closed. Reports the BBC: Researchers compared findings from a survey taken in October last year to answers given by teenagers in May this year. Both girls and boys recorded decreased levels of anxiety during that timeframe. […]
No, Officials Can NOT Strip Search Kids Just Because Their Mom Let Them Wait Briefly in the Car
Good news, parents: If you let your kids wait in the car for less than 10 minutes on a cool day—doors locked and fan on—a caseworker and sheriff are actually not allowed to come to your home, threaten to take your children away, and strip search the kids. These very basic rights were just vindicated […]
Give Parents the Benefit of the Doubt
You see them at the store and their kid is glaring, swearing, or possibly biting someone. (Maybe you.) Give those poor, beleaguered parents the benefit of the doubt. You see a kid waiting in the car a few minutes in front of the pizza shop, or pharmacy. Give those parents the benefit of the doubt. […]
Five Edible Experiments for Kids
We’ve got 5 food experiments over at Let Grow, and some are quite amazing. In one, kids learn how to transform liquids into edible “pearls”: Mix any kind of liquid (juice, chocolate milk, maple syrup) with unflavored gelatin, warm the mixture, and drizzle it into cold oil. This process will create tasty “pearls.” The young […]
Do You Want a Bureaucrat, Age 20, Coming to Your Home and Judging Your Parenting?
A week ago, Tennessee’s Department of Education announced it was going to start conducting monthly “child well-being” assessments of every single kid under age 18 in the state. These could be by phone, email, or a knock on the door. On home visits, the so-called “well-being liaison” would be allowed to interview the children privately. […]