A reassuring (and funny!) reality check from @SamBMD:
The Spotlight Illusion: We Think Everyone's Watching. They're Not.
"Why we think our awkward moments are unforgettable and why they rarely are."
Lenore Skenazy
@FreeRangeKids
- 11 Followers
- 3 Following
- 173 Posts
President of Let Grow, the nonprofit promoting childhood independence and free play. Founder of the Free-Range Kids movement (and book!). Former New York Daily News reporter.
Calling all US play researchers & practitioners!
Deadline to submit your abstract for Int'l Play Assoc conference -- #IPA2026 -- in New Zealand -- is coming soon! MARCH 1!
Share your work on the global stage!
Submit here: https://www.ipachristchurch2026.com/call-for-abstracts
Where can you get reasoned, kind, real-world responses to a question like this:
"At what age do you suggest 1. Cross the street alone, and 2. Go around the block alone?"
At @LetGrowOrg's Raising Independent Kids FB group!
HOW TO GIVE KIDS SCREEN-FREE PLAY TIME:
This mom made it happen! Started with 6 kids now has 43:
https://letgrow.org/screen-free-play-time-let-grow-play-club/
INDIANA -- WOO HOO!
Indiana's legislature just passed the Reasonable Childhood Independence law UNANIMOUSLY!
Heading to @GovBraun's desk now!
Kudos to sponsors @JakeTeshka & @wilburn4IN!
(And @LetGrowOrg!)
Happy Hoosier Kids!
A little piece on the history of pancakes (by me! In the @WSJ, no less!):
Mom hears her 5th grader is being bullied on the bus--wants to jump in. "No," he says. "I've got this."
How'd he get so confident?
When she (anxiously) started letting him ride his bike around, he MADE FRIENDS.
Kids need INDEPENDENCE.
@LetGrowOrg
Mama Bear and the 5th Grade Bullying Incident
What do you do when you hear your kid is being bullied on the bus? Read on! Annie Mohr is one of the three parents in our “Give the Gift of Independence” webinar. She’s also Assistant Principal at the Helen Keller Middle School in Easton, CT, which just started doing The Let Grow Experience. (Kids
From "Stand by Me" to "Stand by Mom"
My piece on the Rob Reiner classic in today's Wall Street Journal:
"After grabbing sleeping bags and canteens, they’re off, not a healthful snack in sight. No sunscreen, no adults, and no way to reach mom to say, 'I forgot my retainer.'”
Can't make this stuff up:
HOW A KID'S SOCCER GAME BECAME A CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES CASE
A mom overheard her son, 8, complaining about another kid playing rough and pretty soon a caseworker was conducting interviews:
https://reason.com/2026/01/29/how-a-kids-soccer-game-became-a-child-welfare-case/
"When adults intervene unnecessarily in children’s lives—supervising their play, mediating their disputes—they effectively call the rehearsal off, increasing the odds that things will go poorly later on."
By
@SimonLewsen
@thewalrus
