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Category Archives: parenting
Want to change our overparenting culture? Read Free Range Kids and Join Let Grow
This book is serious fun. Serious because no other book – and arguably no other personality – has done more to help loosen the lock-hold helicopter parenting has on our kids than Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. Fun because … Continue reading
FREE TO LEARN: Recommended reading for raising free kids
An evolutionary psychologist Peter Gray argues that human children, like all mammals, learn best through play – and by play, Gray means without adult involvement. If adults are directing, coaching, even observing, it isn’t real play. Gray shows how our … Continue reading
Posted in Book Review, parenting
Tagged children, education, independence, peter gray, self-reliance
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Happy New Year! The ACHTUNG BABY paperback is out today!
* The first New Year’s Eve in Berlin, I thought the Germans were crazy. Everyone was shooting off fireworks. Not just tourists but shopkeepers and retirees, whole families with little kids setting off some pretty serious explosives for the … Continue reading
Posted in Achtung Baby, Germany, parenting
Tagged free kids, German, paperback, parenting, self-reliance
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Sky playground
This playground on top of a building in Copenhagen is meant to get both adults and kids moving. Continue reading
Play Everywhere
We stumbled upon some interesting places to play on our recent trip to Berlin and Copenhagen. Play everywhere is a good value — these two cities don’t just limit play to little parks. The German embassy in Copenhagen had these … Continue reading
Posted in Achtung Baby, Germany, parenting
Tagged Berlin, copenhagen, denmark, free kids, Germany, play, playground
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More evidence that kids are capable
Another great video from German fire educator Kain Karawahn that might shock American parents: pre-school kids making bonfires. What I love about this video is that the kids are not only lighting fires — they are cutting wood, preparing food, … Continue reading
Helicopter parents, race, and class: why the cops were called on two Native American teens on a college tour
Recently, a mother on a campus tour of Colorado State University called the police on two Native American teens because she found their behavior “odd” and their clothing disturbing. They were wearing heavy metal band t-shirts and didn’t answer her … Continue reading
Posted in and my super opinion, parenting
Tagged college, free kids, helicopter, native american, parent, police, teens
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Reevaluating Our Prohibition of Fire
“Don’t play with fire!” is such a common warning in the U.S. we take for granted that it is true. We believe that the best way to deal with kids’ fascination with fire is to prohibit it entirely. But this … Continue reading
My son’s sign for the March for Our Lives
My son’s sign for March for Our Lives got some attention today. He told me after the march that his school does not always tell him when a lockdown is a drill, and it scares him. Continue reading
Posted in and my super opinion, parenting
Tagged enough, fear, guns, lockdown drills, marchforourlives, school shootings
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Conquering a Dragon in Psychology Today
My first post for Psychology Today is about bringing some reasonable risk and more creativity to American playgrounds — so our children have the chance to learn how to manage risk and face their fears. German kids enjoy playing on structures … Continue reading →