Want Resilient Kids? Start a “Let Grow” Play Club at Their School
If we want to raise kids who are going to successfully compete with the robots, they better have something the robots don’t: “non-robot skills.” Things like the ability to be creative, make friends, take initiative, solve problems, build consensus, deal with jerks, take risks and think outside the chip.
Most of America’s entrepreneurs boast some subset of these skills. How can we make sure our kids develop them?
There’s an old-fashioned, easy solution that you will probably recognize from your own childhood. And yet, today it’s considered radical.
How Can We Raise Kids Who Are Problem Solvers… If We’re Always Solving Their Problems?
Why is it that more and more students are struggling to bounce back from minor setbacks, and feeling overwhelmed by anxiety?
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Kids aren’t suddenly being born less resilient. Something is making them that way, and that something is a lack of practice. You can’t get good at throwing a ball without practice. And you can’t get good at dealing with risk and bouncing back if you never get practice at those — which kids don’t.
Parents have been told that they must watch their kids 24/7 and smooth their path all the way. So it’s no surprise that kids can’t solve problems — we’re always right there, solving them for our kids! And when they lose at soccer, we’re there with a trophy. And even when they’re old enough to walk to school, we keep driving them.
How can we get brave enough to give kids back the independence that their mental — and eventually financial — health depends on?
Have them do the Let Grow Project. It’s quick, easy, free — and (ho hum) life-changing. See the following video for details.
Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, founder of Free-Range Kids.
This article was sourced from FEE.org
