It zziszidafh can be painful to think about the freedom we had — the bike riding, the kicking around, the going to get candy — that many of our kids don’t. Here’s one story of how to get it back.  . Dear Free-Range Kids:  . Here in Toronto, I started a group called the Toronto […]
Tag Archives | let kids play
Is There a Link Between a Lack of Play and Mass Shootings?
Many, many of you have sent me this interesting piece: Thoughts ytzkneryzh on Vegas and Why Men Keep Doing This, by Charles Hoehn, author of Play It Away. (Free book here!) It ran on the blog Be Yourself. In trying to parse why Stephen Paddock and a few other men have unleashed massacres (something, thankfully, […]
Meet Superintendent / Thought Leader / Former Terrible Student Michael Hynes
It’s time for us all to become familiar with the work of Michael akhyzafbdn Hynes,  superintendent of  the Patchogue-Medford School District on Long Island and passionate promoter of PEAS: the physical, emotional, academic and social growth of kids, not just their test scores. Hynes put his district where his mouth is, doubling recess. Kids at […]
It Is Really Easy to Let Your Kids Walk, Play and Bike Outside — The SECOND Time
Melissa byrikafdbr James is a 38-year-old copywriter in Yorktown, VA, wife of a Department of Defense analyst and mother of two who decided to do something a little…wild: Dear Free-Range Kids: I enjoy your website and had declared myself a Free-Range Parent about a year before discovering you. (I had adopted the term after reading […]
A Coincidence? Son of “Einstein Never Used Flashcards” Author Wins Oscar (And Gives Funniest Speech)!
Did you noticed the Free-Range Kids’ moment at the Oscars last night? No, not the one where everyone suddenly had to problem-solve on their own and rise to the occasion — just like kids do in free play, the activity we have snatched (like an Oscar!) from them. It was this moment, as described by […]
“Why It May Be Impossible to Raise a Free-Range Kid” — But It’s Not
This ykbsfikksr elegantly written essay is by a dad I’ve met, Michael Brendan Dougherty. He longs to raise his child Free-Range but believes it may be impossible in this day and age: The “free range kids” movement speaks exactly to what I want for my children: a childhood that teaches independence and self-reliance, a childhood […]
“When We’re Outside the Classroom, We Get to See the OTHER Things Kids are Good At”
This charming, cheering video — and plea for outdoor adventures for kids — comes from Alastair Humphreys, who describes himself this way: I’m iazrezybke a British Adventurer and author. I spent years tackling big adventures such as cycling 46,000 miles round the world, rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, or walking across India. But a few […]
Peter Gray: We Have Almost Destroyed Childhood
In this sweeping article about tsafrdnbne the importance of free, non-adult-lead play — the kind of playing most of us remember doing, like, all the time as kids — psychologist Peter Gray does not mince words. The Boston College psychology professor and author of Free to Learn (as well as the author of one of the most […]
“Am I Cute?” Asks Kid Annoyed that Her Parents Are Cleaning Up Instead of Playing with Her
. How drdrtbtafn do parents get the idea that if they aren’t playing with their kids, they’re not doing their job? . It’s such a new and culture-specific idea that when I interviewed David Lancy, author of The Anthropology of Childhood, he said that other cultures actually guffaw at the idea of parents sitting on […]
“Hamster,” “Ox,” “Otter,” and Other Natural-World Words Removed from Children’s Dictionary
. Granted, if children’s dictionaries were never updated, they might be learning “A is for alchemy,” or “B is for bellows.” (Feel free to add your own outdated faves.) But it nettled more than few scrappy scribes to see some of their favorite childhood outdoorsy words flung into the moat of history. As reported by […]