…turn a budding interest into an adult-led activity. It’s as simple as that. Over at Let Grow, we’ve got some more observations of what turns on a child’s curiosity and the modern way to accidentally turn it off. Click here to read Part 1 of How to Nurture Kids’ Curiosity.
Author: lskenazy
Talk about a perfect analogy. Today at Let Grow, we discuss what happens when kids are raised, according to society’s demands, with adults who never let them fall or fail. And then shoo them off to adulthood. The author, Vanessa Elias, has several sound ideas for how to make the home a little more like the metaphorical woods. Great piece, and a great way to frame why it doesn’t make sense to never let our kids do much other than soccer and homework. Read it by clicking here. Photo from Unsplash by Benjamin Wong
Yet another guy screamed at a mom for letting her kid wait in the car while she ran in to get a gallon of milk — but with a twist: He was a carjacker who’d just stolen her car. The second he noticed the kid in the back seat he sped back to the parking lot, and yelled at the mom to take the boy out. She did — and he drove off again, after threatening to call the police on her. More proof that almost no one, even a criminal, wants your kid. Head over to Let Grow by…
Strange but true, as I write over at Let Grow: The students were evacuated to the football field as Hazmat teams rushed to the scene. The local prosecutor was alerted, so were the police. Responders entered the building and investigated room by room. What calamity beset Haddon Township High School in New Jersey’s Camden County on Friday? A bomb threat? A gas leak? Anthrax? Worse. Dinnerware. Specifically, Fiestaware, the colorful plates that took America by storm during the Depression. A sophomore had brought a quarter-size piece to his science class, because some of the plates were originally glazed with a…
If you check out this thread that’s been burning up Twitter, you will read a story almost as long as the 6-hour ordeal the dad describes, which began when his daughter wanted some baked beans and the father, John Roderick — a.k.a. “Bean Dad” — told her to open a can and heat some up. The problem? Said daughter, age 9, had never used a can-opener…and dad decided not not show her. He was busy with a puzzle. He would wait out the whole time it took for the girl (who must not have access to YouTube) to finally,…
Let’s hope that 2021 is the year several states pass Reasonable Childhood Independence / Free-Range Parenting bills, as Utah did in 2018. Right now, it’s looking good in Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and possibly Nebraska. This year in Colorado a Democrat and a Republican co-sponsored a Reasonable Childhood Independence bill. The two women were friends and had wanted to sponsor a bill together for years –this was the first one they agreed on! It sailed through the house unanimously and was a week away from probable passage in the Senate when the pandemic shut the legislature down. We are…
Podcasts, laws, eyeballs — Let Grow, the nonprofit that grew out of Free-Range Kids, had an amazing year on so many different fronts. We found bi-partisan support for our “Reasonable Childhood Independence Bill” in Colorado (a story to be continued), we got millions of views of our videos and posts, and I personally got to be on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, which almost everyone in America seems to listen to. (Here it is!) We didn’t even let a certain little virus get us down, as we encouraged, celebrated, and studied all the new things kids were learning just for…
A friend who was noodling around the AccuWeather site today found a blog post, “Why Have Midwestern Towns Banned a Beloved Winter Pastime?” The piece, which seems like it might just sit in a slush pile on AccuWeather’s newsdesk and await recycling every snow season, discusses a few horrible sledding injury lawsuits that drained the coffers of Omaha, Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa. Then it adds: According to a study from The Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, more than 20,000 Americans younger than age 19 receive treatment for sledding-related injuries each year. It…
This op-ed of mine originally appeared in the NY Daily News on Dec. 19: “I’m thinking of letting my 8-year-old walk to her friend’s apartment. It’s literally one block. But I’m not sure if she’ll get stopped, or if she’s too young, or…” My neighbor’s voice trailed off as he worried about someone mistaking his parenting decision for neglect in Jackson Heights, Queens, where we live. “Gee, if only you had perhaps America’s leading proponent of childhood independence to ask,” I replied, referring to myself with, okay, a bit of bravado. He erupted in laughter. “Wow! Of course. So…is it…
Friends, a story I have been mulling and researching for a long time just appeared in Reason. It begins: “What did you love doing as a child that you’re still sort of doing today?” That’s the question I’ve posed to lots of people, including a businessman I briefly spoke with at the TED Talks in Vancouver a few years ago. I didn’t take notes, but the conversation made a strong impression on me. “Nothing,” I recall him replying. Nothing? “I played,” he conceded. “You don’t have something better than that?” I wheedled. “Well…” I remember him saying after a pause.…