Unsupervised Play and Losing Friends for 09/02/2017
Dear Family Coach
Dear Family Coach: My children are grown now, but I feel deeply concerned by the hypervigilance that I see in today’s parenting style. Playing unsupervised and out of sight of adults, and simply spending time alone (outdoors mostly) was crucial to my childhood years and my children’s early years. Do you consider it a problem that today’s children are growing up with almost no chance for unsupervised play and/or being alone? – Home Alone
Dear Alone: The days when parents said “be home by dinner” are long gone. Sadly, children today rarely have time to just play, let alone do it unsupervised. Most kids are booked solid with homework, tutors, sports, piano and karate. For most kids, unstructured playtime is lost by middle school.
Updated: Sat Sep 02, 2017