Hi! I’m Lenore, the gal who let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone, wrote a column about it, got slammed in the media and labeled “America’s Worst Mom.” I started this blog to explain that I LOVE safety — helmets, seatbelts, mouthguards — but don’t believe kids need a security detail every time they leave […]
Let’s predict it right here, right now: By 2030, every state in America will guarantee parents that they can give their kids some “reasonable independence” without triggering an investigation for neglect. Of course it takes time to crest to that point. But this year, the Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina legislatures are all considering bills […]
Join me, Lenore, as I host a webinar chat featuring Jonathan “Coddling of the American Mind” Haidt interviewing psychiatrist Samantha Boardman. She’s author of the new book (that literally tweaked my life), “Everyday Vitality.” They’ll be chatting about how parenting became so fraught, and how we can all fight a culture insisting parents watch and […]
Daniel Kish is known as “Batman” because he uses clicking sounds to echo-locate the way bats do. He goes around the world teaching blind kids this cool technique, but so much more, all to help them become more self-directed. He doesn’t say “self-sufficient” because, in a way, that’s not really fair. If you’re deaf, having […]
Those are the chipper words of a press release I got for some diaper-changing thingamabob. Those are also the words today’s parents are expected to live by: Words that paint the most mundane of activities as a disaster of epic proportions (possibly — unless you do or buy something RIGHT THIS SECOND!). As you probably […]
To start off the New Year right, here’s a happy, simple tale of a mom, a spunky 6-year-old, and a life — two lives! — enhanced by the power of trust. In this case, that involved trusting a girl to do something on her own for the first time — a challenge I’d urge us […]
FIRST, A PLEA: IF YOU LOVED YOUR OWN “FREE-RANGE” CHILDHOOD AND WANT THAT FREEDOM GIVEN TO THE NEXT GENERATION, PLEASE DONATE TO LET GROW BY CLICKING HERE! And now: Head over to Let Grow to read the whole list of parenting moments — good and awful. But let me just state my favorite one here, […]
As you will read over at Let Grow today, kids who are “just playing” are learning a ton. They even learn a lot from the part that drives you crazy — the bickering and the “That’s not fair!”s. Learning to be jerks? No — they’re learning to get along, believe it or not. This involves […]
Growing up I always made my parents presents for the holidays — great things like egg carton candy dishes, and egg carton jewelry boxes, and sometimes even things NOT made out of egg cartons. Like mugs made from half-and-half cartons. No, really — I was better than that. Wish I’d saved some of these masterpieces. […]
“Daddy, help.” Those were the words Rebecca Gomez’s toddler kept repeating when he couldn’t get the battery into his Buzz Lightyear. But daddy was distracted helping his other two kids — and this turned out to be a small blessing. Read the tiny, happy story over at Let Grow by clicking here!
I realize that headline wouldn’t have made sense in any generation till now. Of COURSE 9-year-olds roamed, and of COURSE they didn’t have phones. The fact that this is, indeed, Free-Range headline material shows just how normalized constant adult supervision — in person and via electronics — has become. So read this Alaska mom’s essay […]
