Article Category: News

By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

Finns Find that The LESS Time Boys Spend in Physical Activity the WORSE Their Reading Ability!

When boys get less time to run around, they do worse on reading and math. That's the conclusion of a study done in Finland -- FINLAND! Land of way more...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 6 minutes

How One Family Got Their Young Kids to Start Going Outside On Their Own, Unsupervised — Without Freaking Out The Neighbors

The other day we asked readers to tell us how they're giving their kids more unstructured time, something that many families are eager to do. Here's one really helpful response...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

High School Coach Sued after Freshman Ruins Ankle Sliding Into Third. Seven Years Later, the Trial Begins. Is This the End of Youth Sports?

Enormous kudos to Steve Politi for writing such a gripping story in NJ.com that my heart is STILL pounding. It begins: John Suk sits with shoulders slouched and his head...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

This is Heavy: The Possible Connection Between Witch-Hunting in History and Mom-Blaming Today

After yesterday's post, about a mom being charged with child abuse after her 3-year-old son died in a freak escalator accident (as if all accidents can be prevented, as if...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Heartless and Pointless: Mom Now Charged in Death of 3-Year-Old Who Fell Off Escalator at Airport in Freak Accident

What a horrible, horrible tragedy -- times two. Jiterria Lightner and her three kids, 4, 3 and 2, were at the Charlotte Airport on their way home from a trip...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 2 minutes

Children Are Becoming Less Active in Their Elementary School Years, Ages 6 to Age 11. We’d Like to Hear Your Solutions

It's no surprise, perhaps, that kids are becoming less active once their school years begin. But it is a surprise that in the Oreo creme filling years of life --...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Why Are Young Americans Today So Much Less Trusting Than Older People Are?

Maybe it was always thus -- that the older you get, the more trust you develop. That's the most positive spin we can put on a new Pew Research study...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

How Very Modern: The Post-Halloween NextDoor Discussion of What Kids Were Caught Doing, Thanks to Ring

Margaret describes herself as "a svelte mom of two living in the Midwest who likes to remember the days when mischievous kids were forgiven instead of held up for public...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

Could the Recent Decline in Children’s Reading Skills Be Due to the Decline in Free Play?

This letter wondering if the decline in reading skills could be linked to a decline in plain old playing comes to us from Barbara Chutroo, a social worker and dance/movement therapist...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 1 minute

A 7-Year-Old Girl Gets Lost on Her Way to School in the Big City, But She Knows What to Do!

From the land of uber-independent kids comes this email (edited to correct the grammar mistakes): Dear Let Grow: We are reading your blog here in Germany...with mild amusement. Here's what...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 6 minutes

You Don’t Have to Play with Your Kids: Q&A with Anthropologist David Lancy

You don’t have to play with your kids if you don’t feel like it. That could be David Lancy’s most calming – and most controversial -- advice. Lancy is a...
Read More
By Lenore Skenazy

Read Time: 3 minutes

How Does it Feel to Raise Kids in Utah with its Free-Range Parenting Law?

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...
Read More