If you’re a single mom, you most likely have faced some time when you needed to have your kids handle something without you — get home from school, run an errand, stay home alone for a bit. If YOU know they’re ready, then…they are! That’s what the Reasonable Childhood Independence bills say, too. At this point three states — Texas, Oklahoma and Utah — have passed such bills, with the help of Let Grow. This coming year we will be working in another handful of states, including Colorado, Utah, South Carolina, Idaho and…potentially one or two more. The bill narrows…
Author: lskenazy
…it made such a huge and exciting difference, the pilot project was expanded to the entire 2500-kid program. Now all practices at Steel Sports begin with 10-20 minutes of the kids just playing, making up new moves, and even goofy new games with new rules. “What we’re seeing is very often the kids run to practice now, rather than walk, because they know they’re going straight into 10 or 15 minutes of free play.” That’s what the head of coach development, Ian Hughes, said. And if you want your mind blown by how amazing kids can be, read my Q&A…
A high school student wrote a note to his 7th grade teacher who had made him do something he is now extremely grateful for. She made him get out of his comfort zone, again and again — 20 times — by doing The Let Grow Project. That is, 20 times in a single year she made every student in her class go home and do something new, on their own, without their parents. The idea was to get kids (and their parents) used to independence, including the confusion and risk involved in doing some everyday activities without constant adult assistance…
It is really hard to figure out when to trust our kids to be on their own, thanks to several issues swirling around: 1 – The fear industry that turns everything into a worst case scenario: “What if your son stays home alone and there’s a fire?” 2 – The shame industry: “I walked your son home from the playdate because he said he’d walked here all by himself.” 3 – The confusion industry: “Children may not be left without proper supervision or guardianship.” What the heck does that mean? A 24-hour security guard or a cell phone and a…
If you want to get straight to the story over at Let Grow, click here. It comes to us from Phyllis Fagell, author of “Middle School Matters,” and it’s about her son who, a few years ago, found himself in a very confusing place (literally, figuratively) in China. The fact that he had to figure out what to do in a foreign country, in the dark, not knowing the language, or where he was supposed to be, and NOT HAVING A PHONE is a testament not just to the kid’s moxie (and perhaps his parents’ parenting?). It is also a…
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 more hopeful. You’ll feel more hopeful, too, reading the new book, “Dear Highlights: What Adults Can Learn from 75 Years of Letters and Conversations with Kids.” I review it today over at Let Grow. Click here. What kind of practical advice am I talking about?…
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 your behavior before you can change your mindset, even though that is obviously hard (because your mindset has yet to change!). Below is our 4-minute chat. Afterward, Maggie wanted to continue the conversation, so she interviewed me for Tampa Parenting. Here’s our Q and A…
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 or a GPS of some sort. Kids spend four to seven minutes outside in unstructured, unsupervised time a day here in America.” Ok, so that was me. But others talk about the fact this is not our imagination — including University of Exeter Child Psychology…
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. These families hailed from across the geographic, demographic and economic spectrum. Surprise! The results turned out to be the opposite of what mental health experts feared at the start of the pandemic. In fact, when given a list of adjectives to describe their moods, three…
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 ways. So send your kids out to do something they’re ready to do but haven’t done yet. And then share the growth with us. Good luck! Sunday I will give you the link to the entry form!