This is far from the only mom I’ve heard from who grew up Free-Range — and happy about it — who then found herself helicoptering. I always try to explain that it is not that millions of individual parents suddenly and individually became neurotic basket cases. It’s that we are living in a culture turning […]
I’m hoping this note a Florida occupational therapist sent to Let Grow could change some lives! Good Morning! My name is Kara, and I’m a pediatric occupational therapist in Florida. I wanted to share some recent successes I’ve had with independence therapy and encouraging kids to do things on their own. If you’re not familiar with […]
The texts started coming thick and fast on Friday: “You’re a clue on Jeopardy!” “This is the big time!” “What more can you achieve?” The clue: “LENORE SKENAZY, WHO WROTE OF LETTING HER 9-YEAR-OLD RIDE THE NYC SUBWAY LONE, MOVED THIS TERM FROM RAISING CHICKENS TO RAISING KIDS.” If you don’t know the answer…I’d be […]
This is the testimony researcher Sarah Clark gave last week in support of Let Grow’s “Reasonable Childhood Indepndence” law in Michigan. Read it and weep! My name is Sarah Clark. I am a research faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, and Co-Director of the C.S. Mott Children’s […]
I remember loving the library like a second, more-exciting home. The children’s room was fun, but the Junior High Room? Aladdin’s cave! And the adult room? Studio 54! Or so it seemed to 13-year-old me. These three siblings seem to be following the same path. If you are a fan of kids — or kids’ […]
After hearing a talk by Let Grow Co-Founder Jonathan Haidt at the Grace Church School in Manhattan, Larissa Romans did a bit of a dive into childhood independence. As she wrote me later (we’d never met): During Jonathan’s talk he mentioned Free Range Kids, which I started this weekend. Both Jonathan and you mention The Let […]
Putting Parental Fears in Perspective Kidnapping remains one of the top 3 fears of American parents despite its (thank God!) rarity. One way to fight that outsized fear is to watch the video below. Then, if you’re wondering about the actual odds of your child being kidnapped by a stranger — or need to see […]
In his blockbuster Atlantic piece out today, “The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood,” my Let Grow Co-founder Jonathan Haidt says our culture gets it all wrong when it comes to kids: We “underprotect” them in the virtual world, and over-protect them in the real one. That’s the worst of both worlds, if we want to raise […]
The University of Michigan survey that came out in the fall had all sorts of shocking stats: The majority of parents of kids ages 9-11 would not let them walk to a friend’s house, or go to the park with a friend. Only 15% — this was a national sample of 1000 parents across the […]
This note about “news junkies” comes from a longtime friend of Free-Range Kids, Donald Christensen. Donald is a draftsman living in Brisbane, Australia, where he thinks about the forces that change cultures and minds. This is one of his websites, as is this. I loved this note he sent. So here it is, slightly edited!! […]
