Maybe you have heard the story about the Georgia mom arrested for trusting her 14-year-old to look after her four younger siblings. I originally wrote about it at Reason.com — here’s the link. My story has since gone ’round the world. The basics: Mom Melissa Henderson had to go to work the day COVID-19 shut […]
“F**king amazing!” in fact, is how bestselling author and TED Talk favorite Johann Hari describes The Let Grow Project. We met when he came to New York to research his new book, “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — And How to Think Deeply Again.” Together we visited two schools — one well-off, the […]
My poll of over 1500 folks — albeit on Twitter — discovered something heartening: The majority of both those born BEFORE and AFTER 1982 say they were allowed outside on their own by age 7. BUT, the percent of kids given freedom by age 7 is sinking. And I didn’t specifically ask anyone born after […]
There’s a good first-person story over at Let Grow. Robin Phillips (pictured) was on her way to visit her dad in Hawaii when she got bumped from a plane at Los Angeles Airport about 50 years ago, when she was 13. The next plane was the following day. Robin spent the night eating, reading — […]
Let’s predict it right here, right now: By 2030, every state in America will guarantee parents that they can give their kids some “reasonable independence” without triggering an investigation for neglect. Of course it takes time to crest to that point. But this year, the Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina legislatures are all considering bills […]
Join me, Lenore, as I host a webinar chat featuring Jonathan “Coddling of the American Mind” Haidt interviewing psychiatrist Samantha Boardman. She’s author of the new book (that literally tweaked my life), “Everyday Vitality.” They’ll be chatting about how parenting became so fraught, and how we can all fight a culture insisting parents watch and […]
Daniel Kish is known as “Batman” because he uses clicking sounds to echo-locate the way bats do. He goes around the world teaching blind kids this cool technique, but so much more, all to help them become more self-directed. He doesn’t say “self-sufficient” because, in a way, that’s not really fair. If you’re deaf, having […]
Those are the chipper words of a press release I got for some diaper-changing thingamabob. Those are also the words today’s parents are expected to live by: Words that paint the most mundane of activities as a disaster of epic proportions (possibly — unless you do or buy something RIGHT THIS SECOND!). As you probably […]
To start off the New Year right, here’s a happy, simple tale of a mom, a spunky 6-year-old, and a life — two lives! — enhanced by the power of trust. In this case, that involved trusting a girl to do something on her own for the first time — a challenge I’d urge us […]
FIRST, A PLEA: IF YOU LOVED YOUR OWN “FREE-RANGE” CHILDHOOD AND WANT THAT FREEDOM GIVEN TO THE NEXT GENERATION, PLEASE DONATE TO LET GROW BY CLICKING HERE! And now: Head over to Let Grow to read the whole list of parenting moments — good and awful. But let me just state my favorite one here, […]
