The school holidays are here, and parents struggling to get their children to bed will no doubt be thinking: what is wrong with you? I would do anything to get more sleep! Children seem to do everything possible to avoid sleep, yet many adults can’t seem to get enough of it. […]
“America’s worst mom” is making kids’ life better Lenore Skenazy Source: Permission of Lenore Skenazy and Chasing Childhood In 2008, when she had allowed her then-9-year-old son to take the subway from Macy’s in Manhattan to their home in Queens by himself, Lenore Skenazy became nationally known as “America’s worst […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Achievement pressure promotes mental anguish at the so-called “best schools.” Many parents strive mightily to get their children into a high-achieving high school. A high-achieving school (or HAS) is defined as one where students score high on standardized tests and a high percentage go on […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn What little children need is play, care, and love, not school. The Biden administration has announced an ambitious, expensive plan for universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds. Some of the language in the White House (2021) announcement sounds comforting: Source: We Heart It. […]
(Credit: Newman Studio/Shutterstock) When it comes to raising kids, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Kids forbidden to talk to strangers. Kids afraid to go inside a store on their own. Kids terrified of cooking an egg for fear of burning the house down. These are examples Lenore Skenazy, who pioneered the […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Early academic pressure creates learning blocks, diagnosed as disorders. Source: Flickr Creative Commons Our standard schools operate on the assumption that all children of a given age should learn the same lessons, in the same ways, at the same time. That assumption is […]
The lockdown provided children and parents time to learn they like one another. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Key Points: In surveys, children have reported feeling less anxious during the months of pandemic lockdown than they did previously. When asked to name one thing they liked about being in lockdowns, […]
By John Taylor Gatto”The Scientific Management of Children” The story / click image TOP of PAGE
The pandemic is revolutionizing how families think about education. A Gallop Poll published August 25 (2020) revealed that 10% of American families with children of school age are intending to homeschool their children this year. That’s a huge increase, up from 5% just one year ago. The poll was very clear not to […]
Do parents care about their children’s happiness? I think it’s an easy answer to say overwhelming they do, very much so. And yet, they don’t necessarily prioritize it in the daily lives of their children. I feel like a lot of parents erroneously believe that academic success will lead to […]