Great grandma Joanne Ward of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, read my piece about the fastest, cheapest child therapy — FREE PLAY. Then she emailed us this worksheet filled out by her pride and joy, Emma, a second grader. Emma is wiser than many an adult, when it comes to what kids NEED THE MOST. In case you have a hard time reading it, Emma is making the case for a longer recess. Why? Emma’s reasons include: “Less insie energy” = less antsy energy. “Lesss craze” = less crazy. “Betr focus” = I think you can figure it out! Concentrate!
Author: lskenazy
Gever Tulley saw it before a lot of us: That anything “shaper than a golf ball” was getting labeled too dangerous for kids. And that kids were losing out because of this. Tulley’s 2008 TED Talk, “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do” remains a personal touchstone. I just re-watched it and couldn’t help jotting down so many of the points he made. In under 10 minutes he nailed the problem now called “safetyism,” and the huge advantages we deny kids when we don’t let them interact with the not-perfectly-safe world. Tulley begins by confessing he doesn’t have…
In Part 2 of Let Grow’s “Practical Tips for Getting Your Kids Outside” series, one mom divulges the simplest, cheapest trick of all: Hands down, the best thing I have ever done to encourage outdoor play (other than modeling loving the outdoors) is to purchase a stack of 8-foot 2″x3″ pine boards. Lots and lots of them. I cut some into shorter lengths of 3 feet or 2 feet. My children use them like life-size Lincoln logs to build cabins and lean-to’s and obstacle courses. Every few days there is a new cabin in our yard, and visiting children always make a…
A mom in Ireland, Trish Frazer, was, it seems, a little fed up with the day-to-day pushing/prodding/cooking/plodding that is modern-day parenthood. So she proposed to her kids, ages 12, 9 and 4, that they switch places, a la Freaky Friday. (But without Lindsay Lohan.) Not only did the kids take her up on it for five whole days — during which no one starved — the family dynamics really changed. You can read Trish’s brief description of the experiment over at Let Grow by clicking here. Suffice to say, she learned how much kids really CAN do…when somebody else (guess…
A mom was put on an Arizona blacklist for letting her son, 7, play at park with his friend, age 5, for half an hour, while the mom bought a Thanksgiving turkey during COVID. She was hesitant to bring the kids into the store and they wanted to play outside. (I’m not naming the mom, to protect her privacy.) That was in 2020. I testified as an expert witness at the mom’s hearing this spring and just got the 60-page transcript of the 3-hour ordeal. Reading it, I realized her real crime was…being rational. By not fantasizing about the kids…
The word “Sittervising,” invented by by Busy Toddler blogger Susie Allison, is a new way to describe a once venerated practice: Sitting around while your kid plays. The fact that we needed a word to sort of sanitize this normal practice just shows what judgmental times we’re living in. If the phrase “Free-Range Parenting” allowed moms and dads to explain that they WANTED their kids to do more on their own — thought some independence was healthy and good — “Sittervising” allows parents to explain the same thing about their toddler-tending. They (the parents!) at they aren’t lazy or careless. They’re…
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…
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…