Lenore Skenazy

Helpful fact one is this.

Your kid is not going to be kidnapped.

Okay?

If for some reason you wanted them to be snatched off the street by a stranger, statistically, how long would you have to keep them outside?

750,000 years.

Years.

Okay?

It's a while.

And after the first 100,000, they're not even kids anymore.

They're not even cute.

They're like dust.

Fact two is that when our kids aren't with us in all our teachable moments, they're actually learning more.

And let me explain.

When adults organize a game, we are efficient, right?

We decide what they're going to play and whether the ball was in or out and who gets a trophy, which is easy, because everyone, right?

But when kids are organizing a game, it is a total mess.

Especially if you've got a bunch of kids of different ages, like the Peanuts gang.

Well, they have to decide what they're going to play, and then they have to make the teams kind of even, a lot of negotiating, and then you have to keep the game going, even when there are arguments, which there will be.

So along the way, they're learning, hmm...

how to make something happen, how to get buy-in, executive function, focus, compromise, you know, communication, just all the skills they need to be a functioning human being.