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What does it feel like to be a parent in Utah, the first (and so far only) state to pass the Free-Range Parenting law that says taking your eyes off your kids is not neglect? Pretty great, according to a bunch of parents interviewed. Utah’s law says that letting your kids play outside, walk to

You don't get more Let Grow than Maggie Crum, bitten by a shark in knee-deep water on her first vacation to New Smyrna Beach, FL, which The Today Show (but probably not the New Smyrna Beach Chamber of Commerce) calls "The Shark Bite Capital of the World." After getting 12 stitches she --  and her

Kim Brooks, author of the absorbing, enraging book, "Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear," which just came out in paperback, has another scorcher of a piece in the New York Times today. It is bluntly titled, "We Have Ruined Childhood." Her main point-person is Dr. Peter Gray, author of "Free to Learn" and

A reporter at The Wall Street Journal was feeling so scared on her flight's bumpy descent that she asked the lady next to her -- a lady she'd barely spoken to the whole time -- to please talk to her to distract her. Then she asked the stranger to hold her hand. The stranger not

Two adventure playgrounds are up and running in Delta, a city of about 100,000 in British Columbia. An appalled dad who visited one expressed his disapproval on Facebook: “It literally looks like a dump – broken toys, broken two-by-fours,” he says. “It’s just not appropriate. I think children, if they’re given a hammer and a

Mariana Brussoni is Canada’s leading authority on why kids need free, unstructured time and how to make sure they get it. She is a developmental psychologist and professor of public health at the University of British Columbia. Mariana, what exactly do you study? I study children’s outdoor play. Elements of my work include injury prevention,