Lenore Skenazy Urges Greater Childhood Independence in Major TED2025 Address, Citing Link to Youth Mental Health Crisis

Vancouver, BC – Lenore Skenazy, co-founder of the non-profit organization Let Grow and a leading voice in the free-range parenting movement, delivered her first main stage TED Conferences talk at TED2025, advocating for increased childhood independence to foster resilience and combat rising rates of anxiety. Her presentation, titled "Why you should spend less time with your kids," highlighted the critical role of unsupervised play and autonomy in healthy child development.

Skenazy's address aligns with the themes explored in Jonathan Haidt's recent book, "The Anxious Generation," which she helped research. Haidt's work posits that a "Great Rewiring of Childhood" has occurred, shifting from a "play-based" to a "phone-based" upbringing, contributing significantly to an epidemic of mental illness among adolescents. This shift, according to Haidt, has led to social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction in young people.

Let Grow, co-founded by Skenazy, Haidt, Peter Gray, and Daniel Shuchman, champions childhood independence, aiming to make it "easy, normal, and legal" for children to engage in self-directed activities. The organization offers free programs like the "Let Grow Experience," which provides homework assignments encouraging independence, and the "Let Grow Play Club," promoting unstructured, mixed-age free play. These initiatives are designed to counter the pervasive culture of fear and overprotection that, Skenazy argues, inadvertently makes children more fragile.

During her talk, Skenazy emphasized that "letting kids do things on their own, without help or oversight, [is] a way of developing problem-solving skills, confidence, and independence." She cited examples of simple tasks, such as preparing a dish or going to the store alone, as crucial "small projects" that build these vital life skills. The organization's philosophy posits that children are "antifragile," meaning they grow stronger when exposed to challenges and setbacks, rather than being shielded from them.

The core message from Skenazy and Let Grow is a call for parents and educators to step back, allowing children the space to navigate their own experiences. As Haidt noted in a LinkedIn post about Skenazy's talk, "Lenore is a champion of #freeplay and independence." This approach, they argue, not only reduces anxiety in children but also instills a sense of pride and capability that is essential for their long-term well-being and development into competent adults.