Whitney Pennington-Rogers

But before we get there, if you could just, I guess, start us off with your simple small steps for how people can practically begin to give their kids more freedom without feeling reckless.

but one thing you touched on just now as well is this this idea of getting other people involved to talk about with let grow how you have this assignment for schools where they can have encourage children to to um be more independent yeah and so we have a question actually from from lori c you know if she just as a single as a parent and not somebody who can influence what's happening in her actual classroom in her child's classroom she says what advice do you have for parents who want to give their kids more freedom but maybe feel judged

by other parents or family members?

How can they help bring other people along on this journey?

I love all of these ideas.

And we have so many other questions about different people within the community and how they can be involved in this.

So there's a few members who are curious about how grandparents can support.

So Richard R, for instance, says, do you have any suggestions on how to constructively help our children let their own children grow without risking undermining their trust in us as caregivers?

Omar B asks about how you can tell the difference between sort of healthy independence and maybe pushing a child into a stressful situation before they're ready.

I guess, are there some signs that we should look for in the child to know that this is the right thing you're doing?

You learn by doing, by experiencing things.

I'd love to broaden this out a little more.

So we definitely understand the benefits that you think exist for children and for parents to do this and others in schools and that sort of thing.

But what's in it for everyone else?

What is the benefit for the wider community, for people without children by allowing children to have more freedom?

You actually have influenced policy around giving kids freedom through Let Grow.

In your talk, you mentioned a new law, the reasonable childhood independence law that makes it legal for parents to

let their kids go places alone.

What more do you think we need from government and from our communities to make this cultural shift happen?

Well, I think it's so interesting to think about the role that communities are playing in all of this.