Tag: Children

Power of play

Scott Harper, a Canadian filmmaker, made a wonderful documentary called Lost Adventures of Childhood. It’s about what’s going wrong and right with childrearing today.

I have posted a few short clips from the film. In this one, I talk about the power of play not only to shape children but to build a better society.

Kids need to take risks

Scott Harper, a Canadian filmmaker, made a wonderful documentary called Lost Adventures of Childhood. It’s about what’s going wrong and right with childrearing today.

I have posted a few short clips from the film. In this one, the editor of Psychology Today and I talk about the benefits of letting kids learn to take risks and navigate the outside world on their own.

Professionalising youth sports

Scott Harper, a Canadian filmmaker, made a wonderful documentary called Lost Adventures of Childhood. It’s about what’s going wrong and right with childrearing today.

I have posted a few short clips from the film. In this one, I talk about how pick-up sports have been squeezed out by their organised equivalent.

Fear stifles childhood

Scott Harper, a Canadian filmmaker, made a wonderful documentary called Lost Adventures of Childhood. It’s about what’s going wrong and right with childrearing today.

I have posted a few short clips from the film. In this one, I’m talking about fear as a driving force behind modern childrearing.

Tech for kids?

Two new studies on the effect that the new technologies are having on children. As always, the picture is mixed and a bit contradictory.

Yes, the new gadgets can help with learning. But only if used wisely.

If technology is good, many children are getting too much of a good thing. All those hours spent in front of screens are conditioning them (and the rest of us, for that matter) to expect everything to happen at the speed of software.

Result: shorter attention spans; lack of focus and concentration; a tendency to give up when an easy answer does not present itself at the click of a button.

What’s the take-home? Like most things, technology is good – in the right dosage.