There’s an article that surfaces on social media every June just as the kids are about to get out of school. “How to have a 1970’s summer.” It invites parents to give our children the tree-climbing, bike riding, free-wheeling childhoods that so many of us enjoyed.
Every summer I read the article and scream “Yes! No more carpooling to basketball camp! No more piano lessons! I will reform!” But like so many working parents, I need the structure of camp. Are there even any other kids out building forts in the woods for mine to play with? What about that nagging guilt that my offspring will watch eight straight hours of YouTube if I dare take my hands off the wheel? Dreams of my kids’ lazy days eating freezer-pops out of the garage fridge while digging in the dirt begin to evaporate before the last school bells rings.
We know that bubble-wrapping, over-scheduling, and over-tending to our children’s development is bad for their future—and ours. But how can we begin to shift?
That’s where the Let Grow Project comes in. Because, as they say, “always helping our kids isn’t always helping them.”
Let Grow has partnered with Living Room Conversations to create a new Conversation Guide, Parenting, Protecting and Empowering Our Children. Our hope is that this new Conversation will help us–the village it takes to raise a child–clarify our values and determine how those values align with raising resilient children. Together, we can explore the tensions inherent in parenting today.
If you’re a grandparent, educator, or simply someone who wonders why parenting norms seem to have shifted so dramatically in a generation, this Conversation Guide is for you.
To learn more, download the Guide using the link above. For added inspiration join our free online Living Room Conversation inaugurating our new Parenting Guide on March 11 at 7pm Eastern/ 4 pm Pacific where we’ll talk about the line between keeping our kids safe and fostering their independence.
Who knows what we’ll discover?
…maybe even the location of that super cool fort waiting to be built out there in the woods.
Over here trying not to interfere and allow for “natural consequences,”
Shannon Mannon
Newsletter Editor
LRC Question of the Week:
At what age were you allowed to walk or play outside without an adult?
From our Parenting: Protecting and Empowering Children guide. Join us March 11th to explore more of this topic.
Try asking this question to a colleague or friend. Good questions inject curiosity and connection into our lives. Send us your response–just reply to this email. Yours just might be chosen to be shared in a future newsletter!