This essay on child surveillance by Elizabeth Leigh Hunter blew us away. As she notes: The Alpha Generation is the most surveilled group of people on the planet. That merits more...
My theory: One reason parents/teachers/adults are spending so much time hovering over kids is that they are spending so much time hovering over kids. What I mean is: It’s a...
Child, 5, Cooks for Whole Family (And Becomes World Famous)
Just how capable are kids? Super capable. Astoundingly capable. Unbelievably capable – when they're allowed (or required) to rise to the occasion. So, from time to time, it makes sense...
3 Pieces of Advice for the Mom of a Scared 4th Grader
From time to time, we get asked for advice on when to let go/let grow. Often, the query involves a difference of opinion between husband and wife. But the issue...
How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Future Regrets: Winter Edition
Readers: At Let Grow, we are human. Sometimes, we look at the forces arrayed against kids being kids and have to sigh. And then we get a letter like this!...
What Age Should Kids LEGALLY Be Allowed to Play Outside?
At Let Grow we say: That should be up to the parents. A few years back, after the first Reasonable Childhood Independence law passed in Utah – a great day!...
To Fight Anxiety, A School Unbuttons Recess and Boosts Independence
About a month ago, I visited the Strelitz Academy in Virginia Beach. Wow! Everyone in the elementary school is doing The Let Grow Experience, so there were paper trees in...
THE 10 WORST LET GROW STORIES OF 2024 – AND 4 REASONS FOR GREAT HOPE!
It’s not the end of the year without an end-of-the-year reckoning, is it? Here is our list of the 10 worst Let Grow stories of 2024, and reasons for hope....
I live in New York City. It’s green enough for me. But when I saw the work of Sharon Danks, CEO/founder of Green Schoolyards America, it became obvious that most...
What can change your life for the better? Hope and a plan of action. That’s what you get in the book Everyday Vitality. It’s by Let Grow board member –...
Christmas Break Activities for Bored Kids & Harried Parents
Christmas break – winter break, Christmas vacation – whatever you call the upcoming school holiday, it’s great…until it isn’t. Even in 1951, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”...
Groundbreaking Yale Study Discovers Cure for “Helicopter Parenting”
When adults step back, kids step up. That’s the Let Grow motto. The only problem is: It’s hard to get adults to do that. Helicopter parenting has become pretty much...
I Thought I Had to Be Teaching My Kids All. The. Time.
This “Ah ha!”-filled post comes to us from Abigail Weidmer, a homeschool mom and nonprofit grants consultant in Billings, Montana. Her three kids range in age from 2 to 7:...
