Saved by Sam Liebeskind and
Parents Should Ignore Their Children More Often
For starters, if you’re a kid and you’re on your own with other kids, “you figure out how to make something happen,”
Johann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
the more instrumental care is, the less relational it becomes; the less we really listen to our kids and enjoy the process of letting them unfold with, yes, some intervention from us, but a much looser and less frequent grip on the reins.
Anne Helen Petersen • "I Went Into Motherhood Determined Not to Lose Myself in It."
There’s a second plotline here: the well-intentioned and disastrous shift toward overprotecting children and restricting their autonomy in the real world. Children need a great deal of free play to thrive. It’s an imperative that’s evident across all mammal species. The small-scale challenges and setbacks that happen during play are like an inocula
... See moreJonathan Haidt • The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
When a child plays, he learns the skills that make it possible to cope with the unexpected. If you deprive children of those challenges, as they grow up they will feel panicked and unable to cope a lot of the time. They don’t feel they are competent, or can make things happen without older people guiding them. Haidt argues this is one reason why an
... See moreJohann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
According to Winnicott, the good enough parent does not respond to their child’s each and every need. They do not helicopter-parent, but they do not neglect their child either. Rather, the work of a good enough parent is to create a safe space for their child to develop and unfold on their own.