Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the elementary school aged kids we know who don’t do organized sports stat home and play video games. That is NOT “free play”.

I also find this subject tiresome. We don’t live in the same world we did when my mother was a kid and summers and after-school involved going outside and playing in the creek, sledding, building tree forts, etc. Most of us live in over-developed suburbs or cities where free range is simply dangerous.

Why is it unsafe? I'm totally with you that some things have shifted and that's ok. But I've also read that people's perception of "safety" now is often not linked to reality very well and in fact things have gotten much much safer since our parent's time, but perception of safety has shifted for a lot of reasons I'm sure but partly because we have access to SO much media. I guess I'm just surprised you say the suburbs where most live are simply dangerous. We live in Arlington and kids definitely have a lot of free range to go around our neighborhoods (maybe not as early as they used to before, but starting in maybe 3rd grade) and it seems perfectly safe in the large scheme of things. My in-laws live in Burke and the kids DEFINITELY roam free around the neighborhood. All seems safe.

Anonymous wrote:All the elementary school aged kids we know who don’t do organized sports stat home and play video games. That is NOT “free play”.

I also find this subject tiresome. We don’t live in the same world we did when my mother was a kid and summers and after-school involved going outside and playing in the creek, sledding, building tree forts, etc. Most of us live in over-developed suburbs or cities where free range is simply dangerous.

Anonymous wrote:All the elementary school aged kids we know who don’t do organized sports stat home and play video games. That is NOT “free play”.

I also find this subject tiresome. We don’t live in the same world we did when my mother was a kid and summers and after-school involved going outside and playing in the creek, sledding, building tree forts, etc. Most of us live in over-developed suburbs or cities where free range is simply dangerous.

Anonymous wrote:I don't click on random links....can you give a synopsis Op?

Chasing Childhood is a feature length documentary that explores a phenomenon affecting kids from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Free play and independence have all but disappeared, supplanted by relentless perfectionism and record high anxiety and depression. What’s lost goes well beyond our idyllic conceptions of childhood past. When kids don’t play unsupervised by adults, they don’t gain critical life skills: grit, independence, and resourcefulness. Though they may appear more accomplished on paper, by the time they get to college they are often falling apart, lacking the emotional tools to navigate young adulthood. The film explores how we got here and how we might empower our kids. Potential solutions are offered by the leaders of this movement, including former Stanford Dean and author of How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims, biological psychologist Peter Gray and others.