Folks — This is a topic that sometimes comes up and is indicative of our culture’s worst-first thinking: The idea that anytime anyone takes a picture in public that happens to include kids, the kids are automatically in some sort of danger. The “thought” process seems to be: Someone photographed my kid? HOW DARE THEY? […]
Social media influencer Erin Loechner walked away from a million fans – literally — to live a low-tech and, dare we say it, Free-Range lifestyle. Among other things, this involved a deliberate decision, described below, NOT to track her daughter, even though the 8-year-old was going around the neighborhood, alone. Chasing Slow, Erin’s first book, […]
Honest and searching. That’s how I’d describe this essay by Sybille Bruun, PhD. Sybille conducts research in cognitive science in education at Teachers College (Columbia University) and has had over a decade of experience in New York City’s public and private schools. She’s also the mom of the twin boys above, age 10 — the ones […]
Sometimes a gal’s gotta rant (again), so here goes: Shootings are devastating. Obviously! But I also wonder about the value of LUMPING shootings together and reporting them as such. My Yahoo newsfeed on Monday screamed, “GUN VIOLENCE ERUPTS OVER FATHER’S DAY WEEKEND.” Then, in a country of 333,000,000, it told of three shootings in three […]
It is DELIGHTFUL to play when no one is being a jerk. It is EDUCATIONAL to play when someone is. So: By now you probably know that I recommend schools start a Let Grow Play Club. That’s when a school stays open before or after school for mixed-age, unstructured play in a no-phone-zone. Think of […]
This is far from the only mom I’ve heard from who grew up Free-Range — and happy about it — who then found herself helicoptering. I always try to explain that it is not that millions of individual parents suddenly and individually became neurotic basket cases. It’s that we are living in a culture turning […]
I’m hoping this note a Florida occupational therapist sent to Let Grow could change some lives! Good Morning! My name is Kara, and I’m a pediatric occupational therapist in Florida. I wanted to share some recent successes I’ve had with independence therapy and encouraging kids to do things on their own. If you’re not familiar with […]
The texts started coming thick and fast on Friday: “You’re a clue on Jeopardy!” “This is the big time!” “What more can you achieve?” The clue: “LENORE SKENAZY, WHO WROTE OF LETTING HER 9-YEAR-OLD RIDE THE NYC SUBWAY LONE, MOVED THIS TERM FROM RAISING CHICKENS TO RAISING KIDS.” If you don’t know the answer…I’d be […]
This is the testimony researcher Sarah Clark gave last week in support of Let Grow’s “Reasonable Childhood Indepndence” law in Michigan. Read it and weep! My name is Sarah Clark. I am a research faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, and Co-Director of the C.S. Mott Children’s […]
I remember loving the library like a second, more-exciting home. The children’s room was fun, but the Junior High Room? Aladdin’s cave! And the adult room? Studio 54! Or so it seemed to 13-year-old me. These three siblings seem to be following the same path. If you are a fan of kids — or kids’ […]
