Articles By: Lenore Skenazy

By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

Student is Picked up 7 Minutes Late — School Calls Child Protective Services to Report “Neglect”

Chicago mom fighting back When 10 -year-old Braylin Harvey was picked up seven minutes late from his Chicago public school, the school called the Department of Child and Family Services...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Cops Called on Dad for “Dragging” His Toddler in the Rain — Which She Loves

I hear a man’s voice behind me calling, “Sir, sir, stop right there, I’ve called the police.”  The case for trusting parents This story from Medium is by a dad...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

What It Means to Grow Up Under Constant Surveillance

Students at 11 Chinese schools (so far) are required to wear "smart" uniforms that track their every move. Thanks to chips sewn into the uniforms’ shoulders, the school can record...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

New App Pinpoints Places Where “Stupid Parents” Let Kids Play on Their Own

Must Parents Supervise Their Kids at ALL TIMES? A map app in Japan is being used to alert users to places where kids are making noise or playing unsupervised. A...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

What Do a Gay, Black, Democrat Mom of One and a Straight, White GOP Grandma of 20 Have in Common? They’re Co-Sponsoring Nevada’s Reasonable Childhood Independence Bill

Nevada State Senator Dallas Harris Nevada Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen Let Grow's goal of making it easy, normal and legal to give kids some confidence-building independence is getting a big boost...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

“Bean Dad” Gets a Visit from Child Protective Services: Is that Good?

You may recall that last month, a comedian/musician named John Roderick became known all over the Western World (or at least Twitter) as "Bean Dad," thanks to his tweets about making his...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Mom Who Left Kids, 10 and 2, Alone at Motel While She Worked Her Evening Shift at a Pizza Shop is Jailed. Great.

TREATING DESPERATION AND POVERTY AS CRIMES MAKES LIFE BETTER FOR NO ONE. An Ohio mom has been arrested for leaving her kids, a 10-year-old and a two-year-old, in a motel room while...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 6 minutes

Child Psychologist John Piacentini on How Parents and Teachers Can Help Anxious Kids Stop Avoiding Discomfort, Before the Cycle Bakes Itself In

Childhood anxiety and depression are on the rise. What could bring them back down? Let Grow's Lenore Skenazy Zoomed with Dr. John Piacentini, a leading child and adolescent psychologist and...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 4 minutes

Second Thoughts on Keeping Kids Safe by Never Letting Them Out of Our Sight — and the Enduring Myth of Stranger Danger

It goes without saying that no one wants a child to be hurt, ever. Sometimes, though, it seems as if we believe that with enough child-surveillance, parent-surveillance, blaming, shaming, investigating...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Idaho Introduces Reasonable Childhood Independence Bill

“The intent of this is to help parents feel comfortable that they can let their kids grow up and experience life in a relatively independent way without the threat of...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

The More Kids Walk, The More Likely They Are to Succeed in Adulthood

The more that kids grow up walking around, the more upward mobility they enjoy as adults. That’s the startling conclusion of a study on “The Socioecological Psychology of Upward Social...
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By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

School Evacuated…Because of a Dinner Plate

The students were evacuated to the football field as Hazmat teams rushed to the scene. The local prosecutor was alerted, so were the police. Responders entered the building and investigated...
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