
About this episode
Lenore Skenazy let her son ride the metro by himself at the age of nine after studying the map with him in order to prepare. Unbeknownst to her, this caused great unrest and scrutiny from a variety of parenting groups, so much so that she decided to write a book and start a project on letting your kid grow to be self-reliant.
Should children ride the NYC subway by themselves? When did children stop having unsupervised and unstructured time? What did ‘strange danger’ do to change the way we parent? What are the consequences of over-parenting?
Further Reading:
Let Grow Website, founded by Jonathan Haidt, Peter Gray, Lenore Skenazy, and Daniel Schuchman
The Fragile Generation, written by Lenore Skenazy and Jonathan Haidt
Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry), written by Lenore Skenazy
Jonathan Haidt Lets His 9-Year-Old Daughter Walk to School Alone for the First Time
Let Grow project
Related Content:
The Coddling of the American Mind, Free Thoughts Podcast
Conformist Students Fear Disagreement, written by Natalie Dowzicky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Free Thoughts publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Free Thoughts

Coming Soon: The Liberty Exchange
Free Thoughts

Fighting Government Secrecy (with Patrick Eddington)
Free Thoughts

When Is Democracy Undemocratic? (with Emily B. Finley)
Free Thoughts

Floods, Nuclear Power, and Wages (with Peter Van Doren)
Free Thoughts