<story><title>Alarming Decline of Quality Youth Playtime</title><url>https://houseoflawandorder.com/the-alarming-decline-of-quality-youth-playtime/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>socrates1998</author><text>It is an issue no doubt because parents just honestly don&amp;#x27;t have the confidence to let their kids go.&lt;p&gt;They are paranoid not just about kidnappers or child molesters, but they are worried about not preparing their kids for school and &amp;quot;getting ahead&amp;quot;, thus the over planned childhoods.&lt;p&gt;I really wish parents would just let go a little.&lt;p&gt;1) Read to your kids at night. Do it as old as they want you to do it.&lt;p&gt;2) Give them unstructured play time with friends consistently. After age 9 or so, they really can go off on their own without parents around.&lt;p&gt;3) Younger kids should experience a variety of things well through middle school. The more things they do, the better. Sure, they should get good grades (A&amp;#x27;s and B&amp;#x27;s), but obsessing over all A&amp;#x27;s in middle school isn&amp;#x27;t worth it.&lt;p&gt;4) High school is when structure starts to be more important IF they want to get into a competitive school. And forcing a high school kid to get a perfect score on his SAT is a recipe for disaster. It should be the kids choice.&lt;p&gt;Way too many parents are obsessed about making sure their son or daughter get into THE college they want. It&amp;#x27;s more about the parent than the student.&lt;p&gt;I wish I could tell more parents to let fucking go. Teenagers go to war, they start businesses, they do all sorts of grown up things.&lt;p&gt;Keep them away from drugs and help them find a passion. That&amp;#x27;s about it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dzdt</author><text>I am not paranoid about kidnappers and child molesters, but I am paranoid about other grownups who are paranoid about kidnappers and child molesters.  I fully expect if I let my kids have the freedom previous generations had I would soon be visited by police and CPS because other paranoid do-gooders would report my kids as being in danger.</text></comment>
<story><title>Alarming Decline of Quality Youth Playtime</title><url>https://houseoflawandorder.com/the-alarming-decline-of-quality-youth-playtime/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>socrates1998</author><text>It is an issue no doubt because parents just honestly don&amp;#x27;t have the confidence to let their kids go.&lt;p&gt;They are paranoid not just about kidnappers or child molesters, but they are worried about not preparing their kids for school and &amp;quot;getting ahead&amp;quot;, thus the over planned childhoods.&lt;p&gt;I really wish parents would just let go a little.&lt;p&gt;1) Read to your kids at night. Do it as old as they want you to do it.&lt;p&gt;2) Give them unstructured play time with friends consistently. After age 9 or so, they really can go off on their own without parents around.&lt;p&gt;3) Younger kids should experience a variety of things well through middle school. The more things they do, the better. Sure, they should get good grades (A&amp;#x27;s and B&amp;#x27;s), but obsessing over all A&amp;#x27;s in middle school isn&amp;#x27;t worth it.&lt;p&gt;4) High school is when structure starts to be more important IF they want to get into a competitive school. And forcing a high school kid to get a perfect score on his SAT is a recipe for disaster. It should be the kids choice.&lt;p&gt;Way too many parents are obsessed about making sure their son or daughter get into THE college they want. It&amp;#x27;s more about the parent than the student.&lt;p&gt;I wish I could tell more parents to let fucking go. Teenagers go to war, they start businesses, they do all sorts of grown up things.&lt;p&gt;Keep them away from drugs and help them find a passion. That&amp;#x27;s about it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>shioyama</author><text>Completely agree.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; After age 9 or so, they really can go off on their own without parents around.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d say more like age six, depending on the kid. Kids are much more independent and aware than adults give them credit for.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I wish I could tell more parents to let fucking go.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s ironic that just doing this -- &lt;i&gt;letting go&lt;/i&gt; -- would probably do more good than any &amp;quot;educational&amp;quot; activity they schedule into their kids&amp;#x27; lives.</text></comment>