3 mins read

The Gift Of Play

When my siblings and I were kids growing up in Washington DC in the 1970s, afterschool activities meant playing kickball or exploring Battery Kemble Park with a few dozen other elementary school children, unsupervised by adults. Christmas presents for the luckiest families meant toys, books and stuffed animals. We never saw a flash card or…

6 mins read

Why We Should Let Our Kids Fail

As parents, our natural instinct is to protect our children from harm, disappointment and failure. But doing so is not always in our kids best interests.When my son was in fourth grade, his Little League team– a team we affectionately called the Bad News Bears – was on a 0-7-game losing streak with no apparent signs of a mid-season comeback. After a particularly dreadful loss, he threw his baseball cap to the ground and told …