Restoring Childhood

<p><b><u>A ground-breaking investigation into the changes in the way we are raising and educating our kids, and the importance of giving children the freedom to play and explore.</u></b><br><br> When was the last time you saw a group of kids - without adults - playing on a playground? Forty years ago, the average ten-year-old could expect to walk to school, bike to a friend's house, or play games with other kids in the street. Today, our children are supervised and controlled at every opportunity.<br><br>As world-renowned psychology professor Dr Peter Gray shows in <i>Restoring Childhood</i>, kids aren't depressed and anxious because of social media. Gray offers powerful new evidence to show that social media use is just a symptom of the larger problem: the disappearance of childhood as a stage of life for experimentation, play and learning you can do things on your own. And if we continue to tighten the leash on our kids, no amount of screen-time restriction will reverse the alarming mental health crisis.<br><br> <i>Restoring Childhood</i> is a radical examination of how societal trends - from strict curricula, to round-the-clock news coverage, to growing wealth inequality - conspired to create a fundamentally anti-child environment. If we want to raise mentally healthy and resilient kids, Gray argues, we must restore childhood to children. We must prioritise adult-free play and the time for it - in our schools, in our neighbourhoods, and as parents.</p>