We have several psychologists working on a white paper addressing this very issue right now: What age are kids DEVELOPMENTALLY ready to, say, walk to the store, or to school, or to the neighbor down the block to borrow a rake? Brain, body and consciousness-wise, kids are ready to understand rules and act responsibly by […]
Teachers! Principals! Counselors! Headmasters! If BEFORE the pandemic kids were passive, anxious and depressed, now they’re passive, anxious and depressed with a passive, anxious, depressed cherry on top.To bring kids back to life, some educators went straight to the problem: Kids had lost their excitement, curiosity and initiative? They would re-ignite it with THE LET […]
Take your kids to a drag show, expect a knock at your door. It won’t be The Village People. Government intervention is an option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was mulling out loud last week when reporters asked whether he’d consider legally punishing parents who bring their kids to a place like Mr. Misster. That’s the Dallas […]
The fact that a question like that — “How safe is it to let young children run errands alone?” — is fodder for a news article just shows the era we are living in. An era when normal childhood activities, as well as normal parental decisions, are framed as a threat. Or at least something […]
Five kids at a working class school on Long Island gathered to chat with me a few weeks ago about the afterschool activity they’ve been doing all year, twice a week: Playing. Plain, old PLAYING. The school started offering a Let Grow Play Club, whereby an adult is supervising. But they don’t organize the games […]
This whole movement needs an anthem — and at last we’ve got one: “Go Play Outside” to the tune of “I will Survive,” as written by yours truly and performed and filmed by the New York City Guitar School. Here you go! Lyrics below the video: Go Play Outside: The Let Grow Theme Song Sung […]
Folks, I “live-Tweeted” this yesterday: Walked by my local elementary school. Stopped to watch the kids playing at recess. So much joy. Teacher told me I, on public sidewalk on other side of fence, no phone or photo taking, am not allowed to stand and watch the kids. She is calling security now. At first […]
Everyone loves the dandelion bouquet and burnt toast that will appear in many bedrooms Sunday morning, accompanied by kids bouncing on the balls of their feet, excited to present mom with such bounty. But for a keepsake, you might want to download the free “Fill in the blank” card we have over at Let Grow. […]
You can want your kids to have a Free-Range childhood and then come face to face with the fact that, often, this is simply not “done” in your neighborhood. Most of the other kids are inside on devices or outside, in uniforms. You may worry that someone seeing your kids out and about could summon […]
Here’s just one of the many eye-opening chunks of a study of 5–point harnesses (the kind that go around the waist, between the legs and over the shoulders), by social-worker-turned-movement-therapist Barbara Chutroo: Infants’ brains have fewer neurological networks than those of adults but they grow rapidly. This rapid neurological organization of experience occurs in response […]
