Headline: "NEW LEGISLATION COULD CREATE MORE REGULATIONS FOR CPS, PARENTS IN OHIO" Um, no. Subhead: "The bill aims to prevent unnecessary CPS investigations by clarifying that activities like unsupervised walking or biking are not child neglect" YES! bit.ly/46SAa8z

Another stirring example of "I DID IT MYSELF!" This from a young man with Down Syndrome (and his proud parents): I LOVE THAT THESE VIDEOS ARE SWEEPING THE INTERNET!!! AT LAST!!! www.instagram.com/reel/DM-kWy7...

What Every Parent Should Know About Online Gambling by my friend @LindaFlanagan2 “Your son...if he plays video games or likes sports, is almost certainly gambling in some way.” Chilling & informative: www.kqed.org/mindshift/65...

Easy (Free) Way to Let Kids Learn About Money in Real Time – Starting Now: Simple set of questions helps kids decide “Should I buy or ask for this?” Or not! letgrow.org/let-kids-lea...

Easy (Free) Way to Let Kids Learn About Money in Real Time – Starting Now: Simple set of questions helps kids decide “Should I buy or ask for this?” Or not! letgrow.org/let-kids-lea...

Fun survey for young people 10-19 about their feelings toward nature. Quick, funny, and helpful to researchers. Please share! client.playverto.com/ashoka/you-a... @AshokaUS

My inbox, always stunning me w/ new ways to underestimate humanity's resilience. Today's publicity pitch: "Halloween is one of the most exciting days of the year...but it can bring sugar rushes, itchy costumes, & classroom chaos." Sugar! Chaos! ITCHY COSTUMES! The horror!

Pitch I just got: "While parents often baby-proof their homes with gates, car seats, and outlet covers, one overlooked step is using filtered water for bottles and baths." BATHS? Why not goat's milk? Or champagne? Gently melted water from the great Bering Glacier?

Can't have it both ways, @Parents! "While safety is obviously important, some argue that today’s kids are too supervised & the magic of childhood is lost with 24/7 surveillance." -- Article on 90s nostalgia. It ALSO just ran big piece "Which Tracker is Right for Your Kid?"

From @Parents "6 Best GPS Kid Trackers" "For $4.99/month, parents can subscribe to [a tracker] that learns your child’s habits & can alert you if your child is somewhere unfamiliar." Remember when only spies did that? bit.ly/3ImHuB7

When @ReasonMagazine's @NickGillespie interviews you, you gotta be on your toes! In this provocative chat we discuss my TED Talk & why Americans don't trust kids to do almost anything unless an adult is watching/assisting -- and what this is doing to BOTH generations! reason.com/podcast/2025...

On the Upper West Side of Manhattan: the "safetyism" leading to seesaws and merry-go-rounds vanishing from playgrounds. www.westsiderag.com/2025/09/09/t...

How FREE PLAY builds kids' LANGUAGE SKILLS, by @harvardmed's Rebecca Rolland: "My 7-y.o. plays with a half-dozen other kids of all ages, running and leaping with abandon, with far more excitement than he shows for structured activities." www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-... @rolland_rg

4 WEEKS TO A "LET GROW" KID: At last! Short, fun, FREE guide helps kids start doing more ON THEIR OWN! Competence & confidence grow! Week 1: Becoming Self-Reliant Week 2: Getting Around Week 3: Interacting with the World Week 4: Building Connections letgrow.org/four-weeks-g...

Very excited @DavidEpstein has a new book coming out. I quote the ideas from #Range so much, I'm ready for some new material! It's INSIDE THE BOX: How Constraints Make Us Better. His point: boundaries create breakthroughs. (Think of sonnets! And 280 characters!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2GG...

Want kids off screens? Open the door! @HarrisPoll: "When given the choice between unstructured play, structured adult-led activities, or socializing online – kids overwhelmingly chose unstructured, in-person play." theharrispoll.com/briefs/what-... @LetGrowOrg makes this happen!

Hearing her school was going to do the (free!) Let Grow Experience--having kids do new REAL WORLD things ON THEIR OWN--a teacher STOOD UP up & declared, "NO WAY." A year later, her 6 yo walks to her friend's house, alone. @LetGrowOrg is changing childhood. (And parenthood!)

GOOD news: @PeopleForBikes, the national nonprofit making biking better for all, says youth bike riding participation is steadily increasing! To see where your city stacks up against other cities for bike infrastructure, visit PFB's City Ratings page: cityratings.peopleforbikes.org

1000+ schools are doing the #LetGrow Experience: "Go home & do something new on your own." One 10 yo rode bike around, 1st time. Mom wrote: "It’s making me realize my own fears were keeping my kids from so much pride & independence." Get our free program! letgrow.org/program/educ...

Peter Gray's ideal parents don't direct/track every move, or dream up every danger. They also "don't measure or try to direct their children’s development" because they know kids are hard-wired to develop. "All they need is a fertile environment." open.substack.com/pub/petergra...

Here @JonHaidt discusses our Atlantic piece that found kids prefer playing IN REAL LIFE! They go online as a 2nd choice, because they get so little REAL WORLD INDEPENDENCE. Antidote? Letting go. @LetGrowOrg has free materials to make it easy! www.foxnews.com/video/637688... #FoxNews

YES! BELONGS ON EVERY FRIDGE: Stop Making Such a Big Deal About Going Back to School "Kids have been doing it for generations w/out extensive emotional preparation. They are far more adaptable than anxiety-focused messaging suggests." @SamBmd drsamanthaboardman.substack.com/p/stop-makin...

YES! BELONGS ON EVERY FRIDGE: Stop Making Such a Big Deal About Going Back to School "Kids have been doing it for generations w/out extensive emotional preparation. They are far more adaptable than anxiety-focused messaging suggests." @SamBmd drsamanthaboardman.substack.com/p/stop-makin...

Michael welcomes Lenore Skenazy, author of @freerangekids.bsky.social to discuss her new piece in the Atlantic on why kids are tech-obsessed, how overparenting has reshaped childhood, and what we can do to bring back trust, independence, & fun. Hear the #podcast 🎧➡️ loom.ly/7l3hQnE

Our connection to nature is declining. How fix? "There’s a lot of focus on connecting children with nature but I prefer to say – don’t disconnect them. Children are fascinated by nature. It’s maintaining that through their childhood that’s essential." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

AMAZING! "In a quirk of history, the ‘safety bicycle’ and the internal combustion engine car were invented within the same few months in 1884-5." Quick cheat sheet on impact of both--and why easy mobility is so key. @CreateStreets www.createstreets.com/projects/mov...

Can NANNIES/BABYSITTERS help kids become more independent and resourceful? You bet! Here are some tips from a nanny...who works @LetGrowOrg where our free materials are making it easy, normal & legal to give kids a longer leash! letgrow.org/raising-brav...

CANADIANS! Journalist Simon Lewsen is writing for The Walrus abt Free-Range Parenting AND schools/parents doing The Let Grow Experience or Play Club. If you are and have experienced anything great--or criticism--he'd love to chat. Anonymous = ok! Email: [email protected]

"I’m Not Anti-therapy. I Am Anti-therapy Culture," by my friend and Let Grow board member, psychiatrist Samantha Boardman (@sambmd). Includes list of 15 everyday mentally protective behaviors that improve wellbeing, no couch time required: open.substack.com/pub/drsamant...

I'm not a yoga person myself, but I absolutely loved this podcast I did with @KidsYogaStories. Deep! Fun! Funny! And we didn't actually discuss yoga! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/0...

BEST THING EVER ABOUT KIDS & TECH IN CLASS (NOT JUST PHONES)? AND SO FUNNY! “Girls & boys brazenly played web games with the sound on...filling the room with an almost casino-like ambient symphony of bloops, bleeps, and muffled explosions.” johnallenwooden.substack.com/p/ok-google-...

"Strange but True: Kids Learn More When We're Not With Them" Me, on the Demme Learning show, hosted by @GretchenRoe Loved this chat!!! demmelearning.com/blog/lenore-...

Go Missouri! Gov. Mike Kehoe just signed a bill that includes a Reasonable Childhood Independence section, sponsored by @JoshHurlbert . It says "neglect" is when you put a child in obvious, serious danger. Not anytime you simply take your eyes off them! PHOTO: @MissouriNet

Is Surveillance Making Kids Anxious? "Once I thought it was funny when my friend spoke to her toddler through the monitor: 'Put that cup down!' I invite you to consider how YOU would feel if you picked something up and a digital voice said PUT IT DOWN. letgrow.org/is-tracking-...

"Alabama's New Teacher of the Year Wants Kids to Grow, Play" And to make that happen, she's using the FREE school materials from @LetGrowOrg! Gooooo Katie Collins and #Alabama! hooversun.com/schools/elem...

When a teacher assigned The Let Grow Experience: "One of her 1st graders made fries in an air fryer by herself. Another started doing her own laundry, & a 1st grader vacuumed his entire house. Parents started texting her, asking what happened to their kids." letgrow.org/program/expe...

Great @JessicaGrose @NYTimes piece on dumb optimization, including child safety extras: "As Let Grow, a nonprofit supporting childhood independence, points out, a child is 5 times more likely to have a conjoined twin than to be kidnapped by a stranger." bit.ly/4lZmbnB

HAPPY (REASONABLE CHILDHOOD) INDEPENDENCE DAY! These states have passed the @LetGrowOrg law that says it is NOT illegal for parents to take their eyes off their kids! UT TX OK CO VA IL CT MT MO GA FL Yours can too! Info here: letgrow.org/program/poli...

South Carolina is Let Grow's first Lighthouse State! Its schools will start loose-parts, no-phones Let Grow Play Clubs (so kids learn how to deal w/ each other IN REAL LIFE). And assign the free Let Grow Experience: "Do something new in the real world." www.einpresswire.com/article-prin...

Half as many kids are riding bikes as in the 90s. Of them, only 5% ride "frequently." Seems suspiciously parallel to young people not get licenses. Yes, I know: Phones. But also, when you raise kids with NO FREEDOM, maybe they just give up. www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

The parents arrested May 29 after their sons walked 2 blocks home--and 7 yo ran into street, got killed by car--are STILL IN JAIL. “No one wants to pile on punishment but it’s important to hold someone accountable for this child’s death.” No it's not! www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...

"I stopped overscheduling my children's lives - they flourished!" By @GenevieveRobert Great experiment, result, tips! inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

Congrats to Gary Karlson on being named Principal of Riley Ave. Elementary School in Calverton, NY. Those kids are going to be so independent, smart and happy! A great day for education! Watch Gary here, from when he was a 3rd grade teacher: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHoU... @LetGrowOrg

Extremely helpful, simple, FREE guide (with videos) of how to play 20 classic backyard games like Blind Man's Bluff, Spud, and Freeze Tag. Perfect for summer! From @LetGrowOrg, the nonprofit promoting childhood independence & free play! letgrow.org/backyard-gam...

Had a fantastic time on Alex Clark's (@yoalexrapz) Culture Apothecary podcast. We talked about sleepovers, crime rates, & whether it's safe for a 5 y.o. to go into a store while you wait outside. I am with Alex on this! She's brave! #CultureApothecary podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

DID YOU EVER GET LOST ON a FAMILY VACATION w/ your parents when you were a KID or TEEN? Discover something on your own? Explore? Go to a cafe? I NEED STORIES OF TEENS DOING THINGS ON THEIR OWN while on a FAMILY VACATION (including camping). Email Lskenazy at yahoo dot com. For a column! Tnx!

TRUTH! "Kids didn’t need special equipment or lessons; they just needed to be less reliant on their time-strapped parents to get outside." - @stephmurrayyyy (Stephanie Murray) in The Atlantic theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Attn 16-25 y.o.s in NYC or nearby! Curious abt how phones & social media are shaping your life? Are you irreverent, passionate, creative & funny? Apply to be part of The Anxious Generation documentary here: www.anxiousgeneration.com/documentary Teachers, parents, professors, pls spread word!

Award-winning filmmakers are teaming up with The Anxious Generation Movement to make a documentary about growing up with phones & social media, and they want Gen Z to tell the story. If you're a fearless 17-25 year old with a strong POV, apply below! www.anxiousgeneration.com/documentary

Trying to think of any way the gov't could be crueler to the parents of a boy who died while walking to the store. Oh wait! They also didn't allow the parents to attend their son's funeral. My take, @reason.com: reason.com/2025/06/04/a...