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? […]
Archive | 2024
She Walked Away from A Million Followers to Let Her Kids Free-Range
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, […]
Is The Phone for My Kids’ Safety…Or My Own Anxiety?
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 […]
Every Day is the Worst Day Ever, Signed, The Media
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 […]
How Kids Learn to Handle Jerks, and an Elegant Example
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 […]
Help! I’ve Become a Helicopter Parent!
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 […]
How a Little Independence Dramatically Changed My Patient, Age 11, Who Has Autism
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 […]
When You’re The Answer to a Jeopardy Clue
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 […]
U Michigan Researcher Sarah Clark: Only 8% of 18 Year Olds Can Schedule a Doctor’s Appointment
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 Let My Kids Go to the Library Without Me
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’ […]