Why Do We Keep Underestimating Kids?
Child protection laws and policies that determine at what age kids can do things on their own are often wildly out of whack with actual child development — and grossly underestimate...
About: Lenore Skenazy
Posts by Lenore Skenazy
Beach Blanket Book Suggestions
Summer awaits, and with it, beaches, and with them, reads. Here are the most anticipated titles of summer 2023. “The Body Keeps the Scone”: In this slightly less hopeful follow-up to...
No, Her Kids Were NOT Almost Kidnapped
“My children were the targets of attempted kidnap,” Katie Sorensen, 31, announced in a viral two-part video on Instagram two years ago. Last week, the “mom influencer” was found guilty of...
Why It’s So Hard to Get Kids Off Their Screens
“How many of you have closed your email and then immediately reopened it because you might have just gotten an email?” Laughter rippled through the audience — including me — as...
Commencement for the Rest of Us
Thank you for that warm welcome. Or is it me? In any event, I’m very honored to be here today, welcoming those of you in your late 30s, mid-40s, and even...
When Preschool Pranks Lead to Criminal Charges
Two Colorado child care workers will go on trial this June for presiding over a day care center where a 5-year-old pulled down a 3-year-old’s pants. Twice. Amy Lovato and Roberta...
Virginia Makes It Legal for Kids to Play Outside
Children in Virginia can now play outside without their parents getting investigated for neglect. Imagine that! Sunday night, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed what is colloquially called the “Reasonable Childhood Independence” bill...
We Wanted the Best for Our Kids — But Made a Mistake
An article about to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics is titled, “Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence.” The...
The Kids Are Owl Right
Meet Flaco, the Free-Range Kid… who happens to be an owl. At age 13, having spent almost his entire life in the Central Park Zoo where he was pampered, loved and...
NJ Dad Arrested After Letting His Child Walk Outside
Last fall, just as Keith Kaplan was finishing up his first term as a town councilman in the New York suburb of Teaneck, New Jersey, he proposed a Reasonable Childhood Independence...
Adults Are the Reason Kids Are Addicted to Phones
What to do about all the young people on their phones, growing depressed, anxious… and worse? Well, there’s an ancient plaything kids have loved forever (literally). It keeps them occupied for...
Still Judging Parents, Even When They’re Dead
A very long study of about 1,000 adults born in the ’50s and ’60s looked at how they were raised, and whether that upbringing had an impact on their longevity. The...
My Spongy Valentine
As Cupid’s favorite day draws nearIt’s time to give full-throated cheerNot just to all the gals and guysWith whom we share our love (and fries)But also to those other thingsThat buoy...
The Dunkin’ Donuts Case
It was Super Bowl Sunday in February 2019. Cynthia Rivers and her husband decided that their kids, 7 and 9, deserved a long-promised treat for cleaning their rooms: the chance to...
It’s Not Just You
It is hard to stay sane in this crazy world! Luckily, many of the conditions plaguing Americans today are mild and temporary. Including: Hairanoia: The suspicion that everybody is just saying...