Let Grow’s Executive Director, Tracy Tomasso, is sick of all the mom-shaming when it comes to screen time. As if “screen time” is just one thing. As the mom of a 5-year-old who uses a screen to do everything from learn about reptiles to Zoom with friends (and, okay, mainline Paw Patrol), Tracy’s sick of […]
Have a “Name That Food” taste-testing contest. Play balloon volleyball. Take over a chore of mom or dad’s. Make origami. Find these and 96 MORE IDEAS over at Let Grow by clicking here. Cut them out and put them all in a jar. Kids can pull one out when they say, “I’m bored!” Â
In a recent episode of Amy Poehler’s new animated series, “Duncanville” (Amy plays the mom AND the teen boy, Duncan), the parents discover a new way to raise their kids. Someone has been doing their homework! The shoe-tying seems to relate to a story I heard at a school now doing the Let Grow project […]
WOW WOW WOW. And, what the heck, WOW. The Let Grow Independence Challenge asked kids to send us stories, pictures and videos of the new things they are doing on their own. Click here for our incredibly heartening 2-minute video of the kids baking, biking, building – growing! And click here for the blog post […]
I’m putting this out there as if I personally have ever had the patience, creativity or gumption to make a stop-motion video myself. I haven’t. But this 6-year-old has and he makes it look not totally impossible. (The ending is the best.) Click here to go to Let Grow for clear instructions on how to […]
Prepare to be charmed by this Let Grow video! \
Most of us don’t live on a river. But Amy Lynn Kuhl, the mom writing today’s Let Grow blog post, does and she is all for allowing her nature-loving 6-year-old to go out there and explore. The girl loves building, exploring, gathering shells and sticks. What’s weird is that this idea is, to some, radical. […]
“Thanks to the pandemic, children have been stepping up to the plate—and sink, bike, lawn mower and toilet brush. Sprung from their super-busy, let-me-do-it-for-you-honey lives, they’re becoming the kids they might have been if they’d been born a generation or two earlier, back when parents seemed to expect more of kids independence-wise and less of […]
This flow chart, created by University of Virginia Psychology Professors Jim Coan and Daniel Willingham, is just plain terrific. “Could a child do this alone?” asks the chart. Then let ’em! “Could a child do this with some instruction?” Then let ’em. Etc. etc. Check it out — print it out! — by clicking here. […]
These “cards” are really an excuse for kids to interview their moms and shower them with the ultimate gifts: attention to mom’s quirky uniqueness, gratitude, and offers of help! Here you go — click here! (Mother’s Day is SUNDAY!)
