Free to Play: How Constraining Kids' Freedom Has Created a Mental Health Crisis

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.

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.

As world-renowned psychology professor Dr Peter Gray shows in Restoring Childhood, 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.

Restoring Childhood 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.

'Restoring Childhood is the book this moment needs . . . This book will forever change how you see your kids and how they see themselves.'
Jennifer Breheny Wallace, New York Times bestselling author of Mattering

'Peter Gray gently but firmly asks us to look at how our love, fear, and obsession with perfection may be getting in the way of what our kids desperately need.'
Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult

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When was the last time you saw a group of kids - without adults - playing on a playground? Just a few decades ago, the average ten-year-old could expect to walk to school, bike to a friend's house, or play with other kids on the street. Today, our children are supervised and controlled at every turn.

As world-renowned psychology professor Dr Peter Gray shows in Restoring Childhood, kids aren't depressed and anxious because of smartphones and 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 we are witnessing today.

Restoring Childhood 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 culture. 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 exploration and the time for it - in our schools, in our neighbourhoods, and as parents. We will all be happier, healthier and freer for it.
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'If you have kids, work with kids, or just care about kids, please read this remarkable book!'
William R. Stixrud, PhD, co-author of The Self-Driven Child

'For anyone anxious to understand the real causes of the struggles of recent generations, read this book.'
Ned Johnson, co-author of The Self-Driven Child
What if the cause of the youth mental health crisis isn't social media?