Forgive the long quote coming up, but it is instructive. (And crazy!) The President of Hamilton College, David Wippman, and his colleague, Cornell American Studies Prof. Glenn C. Altschuler, have somehow been peeking in on the discussions parents are having online about their young adults now matriculated at university. These Facebook group discussions may or may not sometimes be about whether the philosophy department is leaning too deconstructionist, or even whether anyone is driving to the school and can squeeze in an extra passenger. But one thing the discussions most certainly are about is…laundry. As Wippman and Altschuler note in…
Author: lskenazy
A dad who just read Free-Range Kids dropped a note to ask for more SPECIFIC advice. Busted! My book is about how our culture crammed fear down our throats, not granular advice on how to raise a child. So that’s why I’m turning this over to YOU! His questions are below. Note that his kids are little now, but he wants the 5-year-old to start feeling her oats and is, of course, thinking ahead. If you’ve got some great ideas, please comment! Or you can email me directly at Lenore@LetGrow.org. Thanks, pardners! DAD QUESTIONS: I definitely want to get my…
The Third Annual Let Grow Independence Challenge is on! Let Grow is asking for photos and/or super short videos of your kids doing something new, on their own. First Prize winner gets a $300 gift card. Two runner-ups get $100 each. Last year’s entrants rappelled down trees, made family meals, rode bikes, mowed lawns, sold drinks, built forts, and learned to roller skate. One little boy patiently broke up part of his concrete patio for a gardening project. Click here to enter. Submissions are due by Aug. 15. And this year, there’s a contest for parents too! We want parents…
If you watch Stranger Things with your kids, there’s a good chance they think the strangest things of all are not the slimy monsters without faces but the kids riding their bikes without parental supervision. I wrote about the Stranger Things phenom in the New York Post last week, asking 21st century questions like: Why aren’t El, Will, Max, Dustin, Lucas and Mike ever seen in a minivan on their way to soccer? What kind of parent lets their kids battle evil without a phone for emergencies? And, dear God, where are their bike helmets? Of course, “Stranger Things” is supernatural…
You may recall Katy, the mom who told her 6-year-old to sit by the luggage for a little bit at Newark Airport while she ran to get them food. The girl got nervous and wandered off, only to be found by some kindly stranger who brought her to a lady in uniform, who quickly returned the girl to where she’d been waiting. The mother and child reunion was only a moment away. The problem is not just that this interlude was, understandably, upsetting. It’s the fact that ever since it happened, mom and daughter have been talking about it many…
Below a bracing little video to remind us all that helicopter parenting is like Covid — something you just breathe in these days. It’s not because YOU are particularly nervous or hovering or crazy. It’s just out there, spreading like a hyper-infectious SARs variant. And I guess you could says the “Paxlovid” is simply to give your kids a little bit of freedom and realize it lets you breathe much easier. Okay. Enough with the Covid analogies! Here’s the video. And please tell me if you have had a similar experience! Note: This mom talks about The Let Grow Project…
Got this letter recently, from a very shaken mom: My name is Katy, and I stumbled upon your website yesterday, while searching for stats on how often kids lost at airports get abducted. The thing is, a few days ago my 6-year old daughter got lost (and found) at the Newark airport at the busiest time of the day, and it was all my fault — I overestimated her maturity and ability to wait for me for a few minutes, while I went to buy some food for our flight. I read your website all night…. Read the rest of…
We have several psychologists working on a white paper addressing this very issue right now: What age are kids DEVELOPMENTALLY ready to, say, walk to the store, or to school, or to the neighbor down the block to borrow a rake? Brain, body and consciousness-wise, kids are ready to understand rules and act responsibly by age five, or maybe even four. (Let Grow co-founder Peter Gray concurs.) But brain development alone does not mean kids are ready for the “real world,” because they need instruction and experience as well. So, if you want your child to learn how to cross…
Teachers! Principals! Counselors! Headmasters! If BEFORE the pandemic kids were passive, anxious and depressed, now they’re passive, anxious and depressed with a passive, anxious, depressed cherry on top.To bring kids back to life, some educators went straight to the problem: Kids had lost their excitement, curiosity and initiative? They would re-ignite it with THE LET GROW PROJECT.That’s a homework assignment that tells kids to go home and do something NEW, on their OWN, without their parents (but with their blessing, of course). Our implementation guide is free! Watch 3 educators describe The Project in 2 minutes, below.End the school year…
Take your kids to a drag show, expect a knock at your door. It won’t be The Village People. Government intervention is an option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was mulling out loud last week when reporters asked whether he’d consider legally punishing parents who bring their kids to a place like Mr. Misster. That’s the Dallas gay bar that held a “family friendly” drag event someone posted on Twitter. (Which was basically like throwing a Molotov cocktail into a nuclear reactor near an active volcano on the 4th of July.) “We have child protective statutes on the books,” DeSantis said. Framing…