This story of a 5-year-old who wandered away from home is going viral today for a wonderful reason: The cops did not arrest the parents! In Jacksonville, Florida, a 5-year-old named William managed to leave his family’s home and fully fenced-in yard one recent morning and walk over to the local Chick-fil-A. Alone! Whereupon the [...] The post Boy Walks to Chick-fil-A on His Own and Cops Spring Into Action appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids
Why You Should Spend Less Time with Your Kids. That’s the title of my TED Talk that just came out — and here it is! It went up yesterday and has 197,000 views today. THANK YOU, TED!!! In the talk, I try to explain the terrible lie that has been driving kids and parents crazy| Free-Range Kids
I am so psyched to repost this Substack piece by my friend and fellow Let Grow Board Member, Samantha Boardman. Samantha is a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and author of a book I love and recommend to pretty much everyone, “Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength.” It is about how ruminating isn’t helpful, [...] The post Quit Making “Back to School” Jitters into Yet Another Mental Health Crisis appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids
Sometimes I write something I just gotta share, even if it is off-topic. Like today! ITEM: (Reuters) – Mattel has teamed up with OpenAI to develop toys and games with artificial intelligence. The company…plans to “bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences.” BARBIE: Hello, my new best friend. I’m Barbie. What‘s YOUR name? AVA: [...] The post Hello, Child! I’m Your New Best Friend, A.I. Barbie appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids
Are kids on their phones all the time because that’s what they love the most? An explosive new Harris Poll finds that actually, what kids 8-12 REALLY want to do is hang out together in real life – with no adults hovering, and no screens. They go online because that’s the only place they can| Free-Range Kids
Am I insulted? Miffed? Mad that I am called a “rambunctious” provocateur compared to my friend and Let Grow co-founder Jonathan Haidt’s gravitas? I AM THRILLED! Who wouldn’t love their ideas repackaged and recommended by one of the world’s leading brainiacs…er…public intellectuals? Here’s the juicy paragraph from a New Yorker article by Mollie Fischer that| Free-Range Kids
Oh how I love this essay on child surveillance by Elizabeth Leigh Hunter. As she notes: The Alpha Generation is the most surveilled group of people on the planet. That merits more than a “Well, I barely ever look at it” shrug, which is how most people think about tracking apps and monitors. Elizabeth is a [...] The post “I Barely Ever Look at It” Doesn’t Change the fact That Tracking Our Kids Changes Childhood appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids
We keep gently reminding (okay, sometimes hectoring) parents to step back to allow kids to step up. But what if a kid doesn’t WANT to step up…or even get off the couch? Here’s a note from a reader: Advice Needed! Dear Let Grow: My son loves his independence. His older sister, not so much. In| Free-Range Kids
You may have heard me talk (endlessly) about how much kids need some time on their own. And how parents – depending on their neighborhood, the age of their kids, yada yada yada – should try to steel themselves and let their kids walk to school, play outside, run an errand, also yada yada yada. [...] The post When Mall Rats are Banned from the Mall appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids
If you’re over 35, you probably remember playing outside till the streetlights came on. But today, a lot of parents worry that if they let their kids play the old-fashioned way – spontaneously, unsupervised, with whoever’s available in the neighborhood — their children will be bullied by kids older than them. Here are some ways [...] The post Six Truths about Bullies and Bullying appeared first on Free-Range Kids.| Free-Range Kids