Pleas to change childhood

Katherine Johnson Martinko; Peter Gray; Tim Carney

Katherine Johnson Martinko writes,

I now have three sons, ages 9, 12, and 14, and—surprise!—they are mostly screen-free. … my kids do not have smartphones, tablets, or a video game console. There is no TV, either. They have limited access to a desktop computer in a common area, and my oldest uses a school-issued laptop to access assignments. They watch movies on Netflix occasionally.

Peter Gray writes,

Get together with your neighbors who have kids. Maybe have an informal neighborhood party for parents and their kids. Let the kids play while you talk with the parents about the value of kids’ social free play. Then say something like this: “What if we all, for certain hours every week—maybe every Saturday afternoon or one day a week after school—act like old-fashioned parents and shoe [sic] our kids out of the house. And keep the cell phones inside! If enough of us do that, they will find one another and find ways of playing. I bet they’ll thank us for it after a few such experiences and beg for more.” If there is concern about safety, your group can have an adult out there, just to watch for emergencies, not to intervene in the play. I sometimes recommend that the adult be a grandparent, as grandparents are usually not as nervous as parents.

In a podcast with James Pethokoukis, Tim Carney says,

if I had a policy wand to waive [sic], I would say kids should be able to run around the neighborhood without having to cross eight lanes. Kids should be able to get to baseball practice without needing mom to drive them. 16-year-olds should be able to get to their jobs before they have their license by riding their bike. That’s the thing that surprised me. I remember when I was living on Capitol Hill, the only people who talked about walkability were liberals. I didn’t understand why they cared about walkability, what that meant, and now I realize, as a parent, if our kids can only have fun when we drive them, that makes everybody’s life a lot less fun, and I know that that adds to childhood anxiety, and I think it drives down birth rates.

I keep linking to Carney because I think that he properly emphasizes cultural factors. And I can count on him to put in a plug for my neighborhood.

My daughters had an old-fashioned childhood. They had much more unsupervised play with other children than screen time or organized, adult-chauffeured activities. It was not a conscious decision on our part. We just lucked into it.

substacks referenced above:

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#46 Thirteen Ways to Enable Free Play and Other Independent Activities for Your Kids

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Modern Luddites: On Being a Digital Minimalist Family in a Tech-Saturated World