How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow
Lenore Skenazy
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Free-Range Commandments
- Know when to worry – separate real dangers from small worries.
- Turn off the news – we are over-exposed to all the dangers out there, when things are getting safer
- Avoid experts – They will offer cautious advice and make you feel bad about your parenting
- Boycott baby knee pads – stop overprotecting kids
- Don’t think like a lawyer – don’t dwell on what will go wrong.
- Ignore blamers – You know your kid better than others
- Eat chocolate – stop fretting over things that ultimately take childhood away
- Study history – kids were doing adult things at young ages until very recently
- Be worldly – other cultures do not have so many restrictions on children
- Get braver – let go of control
- Relax – your kid won’t be damaged if you aren’t perfect
- Fail – allowing kids to fail fosters their growth
- Lock them out – encourage / demand outdoor play
- Listen to your kids – don’t treat them like babies; they will tell you when they are ready for things
Notes:
Control is a figment of our imagination. Seeking it only makes us more anxious. It certainly isn’t required for good child rearing.
It’s not a child’s job to make her parents look good, and it is not a parent’s job to make her child look good.
But a box – ah. It abides by the simple “good toy” principle, which is that it gives all the make-believe power to the kid. A good toy, they say, is 10% toy and 90% child.