Lenore Skenazy: Free-Range Kids
KEY MOMENTS
0:00 – Intro (Halloween Special)
1:03 – Meet Lenore Skenazy: Let Grow & Free-Range Kids
1:34 – Lenore Wrote for Mad & Cracked Magazine
3:09 – Lou's Clorox Audition & Having a Baby at the Height of COVID
5:55 – What Impact Will Mask Wearing Have on Kids?
6:12 – Kids Are Resilient — Lenore's Take
7:17 – Let Grow's Survey of 800 Kids During COVID
8:23 – Why Over-Scheduled Kids Thrived When Lockdown Hit
9:44 – COVID as a Throwback to Old-School Free Play
10:38 – The Kid Who Hated Infiniti Cars and Started a Blog
13:09 – The Let Grow Project: Homework That Sends Kids Outside
14:43 – Why We've Confused Classroom Learning With All Learning
16:08 – Sammy in the Park and the Mom Who Wouldn't Let Him Play
18:12 – Why Childhood Is So Weird Today
20:30 – Lou's Baby, Bath Time & My Octopus Teacher
24:34 – Peter Gray's Book "Free to Learn" & Why All Animals Play
28:03 – "Fun Is the Orgasm of Play"
29:24 – Boys vs. Girls: How They Play Differently
31:33 – Rough and Tumble Play & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
35:48 – Lou's Son & the Fear of Passing on Melancholy
37:45 – The Luck Formula for Parenting
39:02 – Parenting Magazines Are Driving Everyone Crazy
42:16 – Lou's Dad: Selling Seltzer at Age 7 in Argentina
44:19 – What Kids Lose When They're Never Given Responsibility
46:04 – Casablanca Meat Market & Working at the Family Butcher Shop
48:00 – Should You Post Pictures of Your Kids Online?
49:53 – Lenore's Take: Everything Is Already Out There
51:39 – Let Grow Independence Kit & Free-Range Parenting Laws
52:28 – Utah's Free-Range Parenting Law & the 49 States to Go
56:48 – Halloween: The One Night Kids Got to Be Independent
57:44 – Trunk or Treat Is Terrible and Here's Why
59:41 – Will Halloween Ever Go Back to Normal?
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Lenore Skenazy, founder of Free-Range Kids and Let Grow and a journalist who wrote for Mad and Cracked magazines, joins Lou to talk about what COVID lockdowns accidentally did right for kids, why over-scheduled children thrived when the structure disappeared, and why trunk-or-treat is terrible.
We also get into the Let Grow Project, "fun is the orgasm of play," boys vs. girls, Brazilian jiu-jitsu as adult rough-and-tumble play, Lou's dad selling seltzer at age 7 in Argentina, laws to make it legal to let your kid walk home from school, Lou's baby, My Octopus Teacher, and a kid with a pathological hatred of Infiniti cars.