The folks at Highlights are truly kind. But when kids write to them for advice, they don’t get out the violins. They give the kids real-world, practical ideas for how to take action and change what’s bothering them, or, if that’s impossible, how to make peace with whatever it is and go forth stronger and […]
The other day I was interviewed by Maggie Rodriguez, host of the show Daytime, who confessed to parental anxiety — and so did I. I added that the only thing that I’ve seen that takes the fear down a notch or ten is seeing your kid do something on their own. You need to change […]
That’s not just this blog blowing its own horn. It’s The Guardian that’s doing the blowing. In a huge article this week, that paper quotes me and a gaggle of fellow travelers, worrying about things like: “I was concerned that it’s becoming weird to let your kids outside without either an adult, a cell phone […]
Contrary to the predictions, many kids’ mental well-being went up, not down, early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s the conclusion of Let Grow’s co-founder Dr. Peter Gray, whose analysis appears in The American Journal of Play. In April and May of 2020, Let Grow conducted several large-scale online surveys of kids 8–13, and parents. […]
Starting Sunday, Let Grow will be accepting entries to its second annual Let Grow Independence Challenge! From Aug. 1 -7 we want PHOTOS of kids doing things on their own. Aug. 8 – 14 we want VIDEOS! Last year’s entries were just great — kids sewing, mowing, baking, biking, stretching themselves in all sorts of […]
Drew Perkins is a thought leader in the world of education. He’s also the dad of two girls, 12 and 14. After I was on his TeachThought podcast discussing The Let Grow Project (a “homework assignment” where students have to go home and do something new, on their own, preferably outside the house), he got […]
Get your Let Grow Independence Kit by clicking here. It’s an at-home version of our popular Let Grow Project — a whole bunch of ideas of things that kids might want to start doing on their own, as well as a little explanation of how fortifying it can be when we let them do just […]
As more states start to pass what we used to call “Free-Range Parenting” laws (and now call “Reasonable Childhood Independence” laws), some lawmakers are willing to go along, or even sponsor such legislation — with a caveat. They want the laws to include an age limit, like, “A child of 9 or above can ride […]
“When kids are trusted with free time to figure things out on their own, they start working on their very first job: making something happen,” North Dakota State Business Prof. Clay Routledge and I write in a USA Today column: But what happens when they don’t? What happens when, from birth through post-college ‘adulting’ classes, […]
Izzy Kalman is a long-time school psychologist with iconoclastic ideas about how to help kids deal with bullying. Often, he says, kids can actually deflect the meanness by using what I would call psychological jujitsu. For instance, Kalman suggests that when someone says, “Hey Fatso!”, the insulted child can respond, “I wish I was skinny […]
