Over at Let Grow we’ve got 30 — count ’em! — ideas for holiday gifts kids can make. In truth, I only got down to about #11 when I saw MICROWAVE CARAMELS. I’d thought caramels require time and patience and something else I don’t have: a candy thermometer. But this recipe is easier. So if your kids are looking for things to make (or you are looking for a microwave caramel recipe!), click here. Happy holidays and everything else! (This includes your dentist.) Photo from Unsplash by @khlebnikovayulia
Author: lskenazy
Austin Educator Mike Yates had a mom who would accept nothing lower than an A when he was in school. He managed to bring these home, but perhaps not that surprisingly he went on to become an education entrepreneur, changing the way school is taught and success is measured. His piece on “When Students Get Caught in the Trap of Performance — And How to Get Them Out” will ring true for people who are raising, teaching, or remember being kids who focus on grades and trophies as a source of self-worth — their ONLY source of self-worth. The…
Great advice in today’s essay at Let Grow on whether you should push your kids should to share your passions: “I was so invested in shaping my daughter into who I wanted her to be, I nearly missed seeing the amazing person she is,” admits author Katie Benoit. Eventually Katie realized that joy comes when you “love the child you have, not the child you thought you’d have.” The ending of this essay was so good it gave me goosebumps. Click here to read it. Photo by Omar Ram on Unsplash
Jessie Thompson’s kids, ages 9, 10 and 11, would like to walk home together, but Spann Elementary School in Summerville, South Carolina, won’t let them leave without an adult. When Thompson asked if she could sign some sort of waiver, the school said no. If an adult does not pick the kids up, they must take the bus — even though it takes longer than the 20-minute walk. And especially in a time of Covid, being outside would seem to make more sense. While other elementary schools in the area allow kids to walk home, Principal Shane Sanford put his…
Why is there a Free-Range Kids movement? Why does Let Grow, the nonprofit promoting childhood independence, even exist? Here’s why: “Children Walking Alone,” warned an alert I received from the social media site nextdoor just as I sat down to write this piece. “Dear Parents,” it went on. “Please have an adult accompany children ‘taking a walk’ even around the block. Although our neighborhood is one of the best for families, there is always ‘a chance’ a child may be taken— in a heartbeat. Don’t let it be your child (or children)!” So begins a Q&A with me on the…
It had better be Chasing Childhood, which premieres at the DOCNYC film festival on Nov. 11. Click here to read my Q and A with the movie’s co-director, Eden Wurmfeld, who was inspired to make it after noticing the stark disconnect between her “Free-Range” childhood and the way she was raising her own sons. Where had all that freedom (maybe even too MUCH freedom) gone, and what was taking its place? A great film! And not just because you get to see me in action, meeting with some 6th graders who had had very little independence who go on to…
Thanks to a year that has grown increasingly Dali-esque, kids are noodling around, finding interests and learning life lessons they may never have been exposed to in normal school times. It stinks that this year is so jumbled and upsetting. But when we look back, the pandemic may prove to have been a time of great growth for kids, who are getting into everything from bugs to Bitcoin, on their own. My take on kids becoming quirkier (and the results of our Let Grow survey of 1600 kids’ new hobbies) is right here. Come on! Click it! Photo by Kiana…
This week there’s a lively discussion on Let Grow’s Facebook group page where a mom asked: At what age do you let your kids stay home alone for short times (not date night, but maybe a few errands)? What benchmarks do you require first? Like knowing how to call 911, or anything else? My kids are 10, 8, and 6, and I don’t mind leaving them alone to go grab library holds or pick up 2-3 things at the store. But I wonder whether I “should” if it’s something less necessary… As a gal who remembers walking to kindergarten solo…
You’ve probably seen those Facebook memes, “We survived the ___s!” Fill in any decade: whoever survived it is proud. But ’80s kids did survive something many kids are no longer faced with. That may have been the last era when it was truly taboo for children to interrupt grownups talking. This and other well-aged parenting rules and norms can be found over at Let Grow, in “What the ’80s Got Right About Parenting,” by Shawnta Smith Sayner. And she is. Sayner, that is. Sayner than most. Click here to read her piece! Photo by Eric Nopanen on Unsplash
Attending kids sports practices can be a chore or a treat. For me, I loved meeting up with my fellow moms. Our kids weren’t doing anything too serious — it was a local baseball club, the kids were 9 or 10, I’m not sure if there were actually teams — so we gabbed the whole time, and it was fun. At least, that league was. Others were in colder weather, and further away, and I didn’t understand the game and didn’t get to know the other parents. Less fun. Then, too, some kids have a lot more practices, and some…