By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

Talking to Strangers

What a fantastic study: Research just published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that when people are prompted to talk to a stranger, surprising things happen: They start...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 1 minute

Well, Golllly! “Free-Range Parenting is NOT Crazy”

Take a look at this lovely little clip, below, from FoxNews last week. While the caption on screen says, "Critics Warn of Parenting Style's Possible Consequences," that's not the direction...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

The Sorrow and the Fear: Athena Strand’s Murder, and Us

Sorrow and anger rage in our hearts. A child has been murdered. Athena Strand, 7, was abducted and murdered last week in her Texas town of Paradise. (The irony hurts,...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Thoughts on the Mom Handcuffed for Having Son, 8, Walk Half a Mile Home

Perhaps you have already heard about Heather Wallace, a Texas mom of three, arrested for having her son walk home half a mile after he was bothering his younger brothers...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 1 minute

A Girl in China Cries About Homework and It Resonates Around the World

This little girl in China is going viral, thanks to her desperation for some time off from homework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEyVqA-DVwg Poignant! Powerful! Over here, we appreciate this video...and hope it was...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

What Kids Are Desperate For — And Not Getting

What are kids today desperate for? The graph says it all: It's from an elementary school in a middle class neighborhood that offers all sorts of afterschool activities -- music,...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 7 minutes

Organize The Legos and Hang with Cool Parents: Part 4 of Practical Tips for Getting Your Kids Outside

Hi Readers! I just visited a school with a Let Grow Play Club today and it was SO DARN GREAT to see kids JUST HAVING FUN. They were drawing with...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

The 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do, According to Gever Tulley

Educator, entrepreneur and gadfly Gever Tulley saw it before a lot of us: How anything “sharper than a golf ball” was getting labeled too dangerous for kids. And that kids...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

“More Therapists” Is Not the Only Solution to the Youth Mental Health Crisis!

If we agree there's a youth mental health crisis, can we also agree that "More therapists!" is not the only solution? I worry our leaders automatically gravitate to middle-age solutions...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 1 minute

Tell Us How You Let Your Kid Do Something on Their Own — and Win $100!

Our Let Grow Independence Challenge ends on Wednesday. As with most things in life, you gotta be in it to win it! Win $100 just by telling us HOW YOU...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

Let’s Hear It For Sittervising!

The Scary Mommy site is always on top of the parenting trends and its latest find is “Sittervising.” The not-exactly-groundbreaking idea is for a parent to SIT while their kid...
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

Dare You Not to Smile!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIkHCNDd7wk&t=13s Not sure anyone can watch this video of "loose parts" free play at a school in Portland, Oregon, and not smile. Look how the kids are SO ALIVE, so...