By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Hope for The Anxious Generation!

After hearing Jon Haidt discuss "The Anxious Generation," Larissa asked her 5th grader if she'd like to walk home unsupervised for the first time. And that's when everything changed!
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

The Cure for America’s “Drastically Less Happy” Kids

Americans under age 30 are drastically less happy than older Americans, in part because they get so little chance to play on their own. But play is nature's anti-depressant.
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

Jonathan Haidt: Schools Should Ban Phones, Give Kids The Let Grow Experience and Play Club

Jonathan Haidt says kids are depressed and anxious because we underprotect them in the virtual world and overprotect them in the real world.
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 8 minutes

Surprise! Free Play is Safer than Sports or Hanging out at Home

This post is reprinted (and gently edited) from a surprising article on LinkedIn that showed that free play is safer than sports -- the adult-organized kind -- or even hanging...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

New Study Finds Intensive Parenting is Best…Or Does It?

Is it intensive parenting to text your young adult kids a few times a week and offer some advice on things like finances? The New York Times says yes. I...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

KIDS NEED MORE “RISKY PLAY” SAYS CANADIAN PEDIATRICS SOCIETY!

Kids need to climb trees, jump off things, and ride their bikes fast. Says who? Says the Canadian Paediatric Society, that's who. They may spell "pediatric" wrong, but they get...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

If You Curtail Your Kid’s Screen Time, What Can Fill the Void?

Today's post comes to us from Katherine Johnson Martinko, author of Childhood Unplugged: Practical Advice to Get Kids Off Screens and Find Balance (New Society Publishers, 2023). A Solution for...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Resist the Pressure to Micromanage Halloween

What a phenomenal piece in today's New York Times by Jessica Grose, the former parenting editor there. She is begging parents to "Stop Micromanaging Halloween," a trend we've seen ever...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

BIG STUDY: Parents WANT to Promote their Kids’ Independence…but Don’t

Most parents believe it’s important for kids to develop independence in their elementary school years by doing things “away from direct adult supervision,” according to a new survey by the...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

Over the Decades, As Kids’ Independence Declined, Their Anxiety Increased

This article in the Journal of Pediatrics -- Decline inIndependent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary ofthe Evidence -- has been getting a tsunami of...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

Stop Trailing Your Trick or Treaters by Car!

Today's timely Trick or Treating post comes to us from Dixie Dillon Lane, an American historian and mother of four enthusiastic trick-or-treaters. She is an associate editor for Hearth & Field. You...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

JOY: Abducted Girl is Found Safe! What This Means for Parents

Joy, amazement, gratitude – fantastic emotions are surging through a whole lot of us today, for Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old abducted while riding her bike in upstate New York, has...