Let Grow
@LetGrowOrg
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Making it easy, normal & legal to give kids some independence, because when adults step back, kids step up. Parents, educators, advocates -- share ideas here!
New York, NY
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UTAH BECOMES 1st STATE TO PASS "FREE-RANGE KIDS BILL"
The basic point: Our kids have the right to some unsupervised time, and we have the right to give it to them without getting arrested.
Have your state do same! Read about bill/download a copy:
…
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Send your kids out with "Have fun! I love you!" instead of "Be Careful. " Instead of feeling you doubt they are capable of handling the unexpected, and they should fear the world outside your own walls, they'll feel trusted, confident and loved!
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Peter Gray on what kids get from free play, not organized activities:
1 - To keep the game going, you must keep everyone happy, including the other team.
2 - Rules are made & modified by the players themselves.
3 - Conflicts are settled by...
READ ON!
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“Teaching young people how not to be offended is to equip them to embrace people as complex individuals and not just as mascots of this or that tribe."
Schools 'Need to Teach Kids 'How Not to Be Offended' in 2019:
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Educators & counselors considering how to help students dial down anxiety should take a look at these 7th graders who did The Let Grow Project. It's simple, free--
And its impact on anxiety is so stunning, you'll be reading a book about soon. 2-min vid:
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Get kids thinking, daydreaming & problem solving. Bring back independence!
Have your school do The Let Grow Project: Kids get the homework: "Go home & do something new, on your own." Kids discover the world--parents see their kids blossoming.
Easy! Free!
Biographies of people of exceptional achievement: a common factor is "They had time to roam about and relied heavily on self-directed learning."
But we largely stopped kids from doing that in the 1990s. What will happen to innovation?
@LetGrowOrg
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To Make Kids Safer...Make Playgrounds Riskier!
INSURANCE COMPANIES want playgrounds that teach kids to PAY ATTENTION.
Some countries are complying. But in America, a kid who fell off a slide was awarded $170,000 for her broken arm.
Sigh.
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This is great to see!
#LetGrow
#LetThem
#Reading
#LoveLibraries
#LoveYourLibrary
#Wildschooling
#Unschooling
#FreeRange
------->
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Librarian Tells Mom She Broke Law by Letting Son Browse 6 Minutes in Children's Room
That's why Let Grow & local parents are working to change Connecticut's neglect laws
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“Anxiety is the belief that something will go wrong, you won’t be able to handle it, & you'll be hurt. REALITY is when something goes wrong, you figure things out, & it’s not a big deal. So independence—getting kids to deal with reality—busts anxiety.”
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Actually, Americans DO choose to keep kids safe. It's just that they believe the kids are in constant danger.
So they are angry at the parents who give their kids some independence, and believe those parents are endangering their kids. Then sometimes they call 911.
In Japan, kids can run errands and commute to school alone at a young age. Why? Because Japan has decided that children in Japan are the collective responsibility of society to keep safe. That’s the choice Japan has made. What choice has AMERICA made?
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"The idea that parents have to enrich every second of their kids’ lives was a crazy lie even before the coronavirus," Let Grow's president,
@FreeRangeKids
writes in the
@washingtonpost
.
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How can we prevent a generation of pandemic-isolated misfits?
"Play is precisely what children need to normalize this period. It is the elixir that allows them to cope and to learn."
Great piece in
@HechingerReport
by
@sara_lahayne
and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
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Best points in "Why are kids so anxious?" piece:
1- Parents view themselves as protectors rather than guides.
2- They hover because letting the kids go stirls up THEIR (the parents') anxiety,
3 - Not enough free play.
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Video: a helicoptered young man writes Let Grow. We hope these stories become a lot fewer, with your help!
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"My Son Was Reading in the Car in the Walmart Parking Lot.
He's 9.
Two People Called the Cops."
Can we please stop dialing 911 JUST BECAUSE a competent kid is in a car, safe and warm and FINE?
- Let Grow
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Makes me cry every time.
Every April
#earlychildhood
educators mark the Week of the Young Child. There could hardly be a better illustration of why than this clip from
@sesamestreet
which captures all the beauty and potential of our work. Be sure to watch until the end.
#WOYC2022
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Why Do We Worry So Much About Child Abduction?
It has to do with our wiring. And our terrible grasp of statistics. And the kids on the milk cartons.
And maybe the fact you can get ridiculous stock photos like this:
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Let Grow's Lenore Skenazy on
@CBC
talking about why "risky" play isn't risky...but forbidding it is:
Want to get play back into your kids' lives? Ask yr school to consider starting a Let Grow Play Club. Visit LetGrow. org. Our guide is free!
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"Renée Schafer Horton: Lessons from Japan's free range parenting"
Prof. Horton sees how kids raised w/out freedom/errands feel lost & helpless. Keeping them "safe" from outside world is actually damaging. Read the excerpt below.
via
@tucsonstar
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Mom arrested for letting son wait in car 5 mins on cool day. Why?
"I began to understand it didn’t matter if what I’d done was dangerous; it only mattered if other parents felt it was dangerous. When it comes to kids’ safety, feelings are facts."
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Image from
@JonHaidt
and his concerned daughter 👍
You may have a family screen device policy, but how much time do your children have their eyes on screens at school?
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Reason's
@NickGillespie
interviews Colo Gov.
@JaredPolis
. 1st topic? The Reasonable Childhood Independence law he just signed!
It allows parents to decide when their kids are ready to play outside, etc., w/out fear of this being mistaken for neglect.
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Proud to say that Jonathan Haidt is one of the four founders of Let Grow. His book makes the case for more childhood independence, so kids grow up resourceful, resilient, and ready for the give and take of democracy.
The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt.
Superb book, deeply important. Please read it.
If you are a student, read it.
If you are a parent of a future student, read it.
Whoever you are, please read it.
Read it. Read it. Read it.
Please read it.
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WOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!
REASONABLE CHILDHOOD INDEPENDENCE BILL PASSES COLO HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY!
And one Rep brags his kids are "Wandering the state house on their own RIGHT NOW. I am not a NEGLECTFUL PARENT!"
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Everyone is trying to figure out the youth mental health crisis. Try this very simple idea on for size:
"Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence"
From Journal of Pediatrics.
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Moving beyond polarization IS possible--Colorado has done it! Thanks to an amazing team and sponsors from across the political spectrum, parents can send their kids out to play without fear.
@KimRansom
@RepMaryYoung
@jimsmallwood
@SenJanetBuckner
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School should have more play and less testing, say
@pasi_sahlberg
and
@williamdoylenyc
in this
@washingtonpost
piece:
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Americans are crazy when it comes to parenting, says the rest of the world, which lets its kids:
1 - Walk to school from about age 7
2 - Play outside unsupervised
3 - Run errands
4- Wait briefly in the car
All without arresting the parents!
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All the worry in the world doesn't prevent death. It prevents life.
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Playing outside can sound risky to parents & teachers.
But did you know the chance of a kid sustaining a fracture from playing is .0004%?
Or that kids playing outside take 2000 more steps than those inside?
Great short video by
@mbrussoni
:
#Nature
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"Kids have had whatever independence they enjoyed 40 years ago taken from them. Stolen. They’ve had their environment — home, school, the playground — made so safe, so risk-free you’d think they’re mentally defective or suicidal."
Blistering essay:
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Join our Raising Independent Kids FB group for comments like this, abt
#BabysittersClub
books:
"These books were a big part of my childhood. The girls were 11-13. I started babysitting at that age. Today a lot of people think that children that age NEED babysitters!"
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Love this Peter Gray quote:
"Play is practice in what is arguably the most important human skill, which is being able to get along with other people."
Thank you, Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, WA, for making it into this poster!
@ChildhoodMovie
@CWATarriers
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This South Carolina 6-yr-old has a message for her state's senators:
Please pass the law that guarantees parents can let kids like her play outside, unsupervised, without getting investigated for neglect.
(But she says it cuter.)
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GREAT story that gets everything right about the Reasonable Childhood Independence Bill the Colorado House is voting on today. (And expected to PASS!)
Get a law like this passed in YOUR state! Check out Let Grow's Laws & Advocacy page:
Colorado lawmakers want to spell it out: It’s perfectly legal for kids to play outside or walk to school alone
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"The responsibility & resilience we got from the freedom to be kids is why we–a Democrat & a Republican–are sponsoring the 'Reasonable Childhood Independence' bill... It will give the children of Virginia the independence we cherished."
YAY
@VIRGINIA
!
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Missed this?
"Even young teenagers today are regularly denied the freedoms that children as young as five or six years old enjoyed just a few decades ago."
Dr. Peter Gray's eloquent testimony in favor of a Free-Range Parenting Bill:
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Kids need frequent unstructured play in mixed age groups if we expect them to become adults who can work collaboratively in society.
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On our FB group Raising Independent Kids:
"In another group, a parent asked when her 5 & 7 y.o. could walk 600m to the playground, no major streets to cross. So many parents said 'not til 12/13/14.' It made me so sad. I think most kids much younger can handle it."
Join us!
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The implicit insult to our species is just gobsmacking. The idea that kids need an ADULT to teach them literally EVERYTHING about being a human is a new (& expensive!) development.
That's why kids don't get to JUST PLAY. Adults assume they're required to suggest, solve, hover.
For instance, I went to a little indoor gym class with my toddler & the teacher held up a ball & moved it around so the kids could "learn how to track objects with their eyes". I cannot stress enough how completely & utterly unnecessary that is. You do not need to teach that! 4/
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How about letting your kids go knock on their friend's door? It could be the start of something wonderful!
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Five-year-old Lexi got a medal for saving the lives of her mom and baby brother after their car plunged down an embankment in the Canadian Rockies. Kids aren't just cute--they're CAPABLE. 💪🏼
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"Students are capable of making smart & safe decisions from a much younger age than current culture deems appropriate..." What was recently considered "safe, simple, and easy" is now considered too difficult for today's kids. - Skenazy on
#AoPS
podcast
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Kids need calcium to build their bones...and goof-around time to build their resilience! 🥛 Please support
@LetGrowOrg
, the national nonprofit promoting childhood independence.
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This is why Jon Haidt 👇co-founded Let Grow!
Overprotecting/underestimating kids hurts them.
So, our mission:
Making it easy, normal & legal to give kids the independence they need, to grow up into competent, confident, happy adults.
JOIN US!
“Why modern America creates fragile children | Jonathan Haidt”
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We wanted to reintroduce
#LetGrow
to all of our new community members. Let Grow is here to help schools and parents break through the fear holding our kids back.
Learn More 👉
#ChildDevelopment
#ChildIndependence
#AnxiousGeneration
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"With kids being carted from one activity to the next, the days of kids being kids and playing all day long has been erased from our society’s collective memory. We’ve devalued what children need most and replaced it with excessive adult control."
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Let your kids play this summer! No kids out side to play with? Start a neighborhood play club today!
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This may make you cry, or inspire you to give your kids more freedom.
Or both.
The College Essay of Extraordinary Finn Fox (RIP)
In photo, Finn is on the left.
Attn:
@JonHaidt
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This particular child was "unattended" for 6 minutes.
One thing that disturbs me about our culture is that "unattended" suggests "attended" is the norm.
That wasn't always so.
And kids weren't always growing up so anxious.
@LetGrowOrg
@JonHaidt
We don’t know how long the child was unattended. Librarians are often expected to be babysitters. Some states have more draconian laws about leaving kids unattended, and when you leave a child alone in a library for any length of time, you leave the staff with no choice.
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Peter Gray's Q&A with Lenore Skenazy upon publication of new edition of Free-Range Kids, including "What 3 pieces of advice would you give today's parents?"
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Fantastic piece by mom (and former war correspondent)
@beckydiamond1
who saw her 8-year-old retreating into a shell during Covid -- and growing anxious. Here's what she discovered got him out.
Bonus: It also worked on her 81-year-old dad.
@PyschToday
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"I’m A Child Anxiety Therapist: Kids Need Independence"
Essay by Regine Galanti says when parents encourage kids to do something FUN beyond their comfort zone, kids get braver about doing DAUNTING things beyond their comfort zone.
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Want to Protect Children? Don't Embrace "Safetyism" writes Julian Adorney:
"When there’s always an adult around to tell you what to do next, your brain adapts. Instead of building curiosity, you learn to sit and wait patiently for instructions."
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IL House passes Free-Range Parenting bill:
"The best thing we can do is give some assurance to working families and allow them to make that decision whether or not their child is mature enough to be on their own.” -
@Repsosnowski
.
Senate next!
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Peter Gray: "I don’t want to trivialize the roles of adults in kids' lives, but we adults greatly exaggerate our roles in...how they develop. We have this adult-centric view that we raise, socialize, & educate children..."
Change yr perspective:
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SUPER piece on how kids need to play UNSUPERVISED...starting at age 6!
Yes. SIX!
A lack of independence "is taking away their agency to feel in control of their own lives - both now and later down the line in adulthoood."--
@AmandaGummer
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This sounds guaranteed to drive parents AND kids crazy. Maybe teachers too.
Any thoughts on the constant updating of students' grades on apps that go to parents?
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Can FREE TIME be the answer to students’ mental health crises & better learning outcomes?
YES!
“The research shows that if you give kids a little bit of independence, most of them did better than when adults were attempting to control them."
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Peter Gray, Ph.D., said, "Since about 1955 children's free play has been declining, partly because of adults' increasing control over children's activities." Lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety and depression.
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What kind of childhoods did stone cold geniuses have?
This piece says folks like Tolstoy, John Stuart Mill & Virginia Woolf has LOTS OF FREE TIME.
It was--in PART-- BOREDOM that got them examining the world & going deep into hobbies.
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Check out "Wait Until 8th" -- it waits until 10 families at a school have taken the pledge to delay smart phones till 8th grade. That way there is a base of kids who don't have them. It makes it easier for other families to do the same:
@feistyredhair
@LetGrowOrg
@globeandmail
@NewSocietyPub
Schools need to start encouraging parents to do this and to bring deviceless families together for support.
My oldest is 12 and has been wanting one for some time. I’ve always been of the opinion he can have one when he’s able to purchase one and pay the monthly charges.
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Term I just learned: "Delayed intervention."
Instead of us adults jumping in to fix/soothe/solve, holding off a little bit to see if kids figure out how to do this themselves.
It's "teach a man to fish" for kids & their minor problems, at home, on playground, at school.
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A defense of sleepovers: They may have some sub-optimal aspects, but they are as close as most kids come to visiting other cultures.
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“Experts believe A CHILD SHOULD BE AT LEAST 12 before he is LEFT ALONE & at least 15 before he can care for a younger sibling."
No they DON'T!
But those are Connecticut child protection guidelines.
These Dem & Repub lawmakers are TRYING TO CHANGE THAT!
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"Our catastrophizing culture has scared parents so much, they worry about letting their kids do almost anything. Ironically, the result isn't safety, it’s anxiety," says LetGrow's Lenore Skenazy in
@boredpanda
.
The antidote is independence.
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This video makes you realize kids can still have fun the old-fashioned way. No phones. No jerseys.
This Let Grow Play Club is at a S.C. elementary school.
Start a Let Grow Play Club at YOUR SCHOOL NOW!
Visit Let Grow, click on schools.
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Good 10-min video abt what caused the drastic drop in kids walking or biking to school.
One more piece may be that being a passenger is fun now--you're online or playing a game. Why walk when you can surf?
H/T
@DrAndreaBonior
and Bridget Held:
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Let Grow Prez. Lenore Skenazy in NYTimes profile of Jon Haidt, whose "book, 'The Anxious Generation,' comes partly out of his nonprofit Let Grow, which pushes for more childhood independence & play, including by creating free school curricula."
Get it here
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Young people would all be better off, and considerably less stressed, if parents and adults recognized that college is just one potential option, and not always the best one.
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Want to help A GENERATION of KIDS plagued by ANXIETY? See study below!
It's free! Fast! No Drugs!
When we took independence outta kids lives we deprived them of a vital nutrient. GIVE IT BACK & THEY THRIVE!
Schools/counselors can do this TOMORROW!
As some of you know, I have been developing a new treatment for child anxiety that is different from exposure-based approaches. Kids get MEGA-DOSES of independence. Results are coming out (here's one child, using multiple baseline data), and they are exciting. Still early...
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Want to raise resilient kids?
We're guessing...yes. A mom of three has one simple piece of advice: Do LESS. Be with them less, help them less, let them go outside and do what she did -- more or less. (Less jumping off snowy roofs):
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THRILLED BY THIS VIDEO OF
@LETGROWORG
.
WOW! Watch those kids amaze us!
Shout outs to
@gkarlsonjr
@BryanMiltenberg
@MikeHynes5
(early adopter)
@LoriKoernerRCSD
@PrincipalPayton
and everyone at AQUEBOGUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
More children are being diagnosed with anxiety and depression than ever before. Are paranoid parents to blame?
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Jon Haidt & Peter Gray helped co-found
@LetGrowOrg
. We have programs for parents & schools -- all FREE! -- that make it easy, normal and legal to give kids the independence they need to grow into capable, competent & happy adults.
Visit:
If you are a parent and want to help your child avoid getting sucked into the depression/anxiety epidemic, read this essay by Peter Gray, then parent so that your child develops a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness:
@LetGrowOrg
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Kids scoring higher on a legit creativity test later “tallied more books, dances, radio shows, art exhibits, software programs..." and so on. Yet a kid in the 50th percentile in 1984 scored higher than 85% today.
KIDS NEED FREE TIME TO BLOSSOM.
#LetGrow
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Should I Worry About My Kids Wasting Time Over the Summer?
Sure! Worry all you want — if you think that who you are in life is a direct result of your not having wasted even a single minute as a kid.
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Welcome,
@NPR
Listeners!
What a great piece on Morning Edition!
If you'd like to give your child some more freedom -- or have your school do the independence-building projects you heard about -- here's everything you need:
Glad to meet you!
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The decline of independence & free play began decades ago, and w/ it came loneliness, anxiety, depression.
To make kids happier, give them back THE REAL WORLD.
If you let kids hangout in the virtual world but not the real one, of course the virtual world is going to win.
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Kids are bursting with empathy just WAITING to come out. But that's hard if they don't have free time with kids of other ages. That's why Let Grow hopes more schools will stay open for free play after school. Here's how:
Attn:
@MikeHynes5
@SirKenRobinson
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“Kids need play and independence if they’re going to become independent adults.’” -
@JonHaidt
@ABC
Check out our Pledge of Independence 👉
#ChildDevelopment
#ChildIndependence
#AnxiousGeneration
#LetGrow
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When Adults Step Back, Kids Step Up! 💪🏼 At
#LetGrow
, we believe today’s kids are smarter, safer and stronger than our culture gives them credit for.
Let Grow counters the culture of
#overprotection
. We aim to future-proof our kids and our country.
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"I Don’t Check My Kids’ Grades Online Or Monitor Their Homework — At All"
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.
@LetGrowOrg
Pres. Lenore Skenazy was the 1st to report this story! The mom got in touch when it happened. When she finished her plea deal (drug tests, parenting classes) & case was closed, she said Lenore could write it up.
Help for anyone else accused:
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