Melissa Laurie

A conversation this week has been stuck in my head. We were talking about childhood when someone said something that felt surprisingly profound: "Sometimes parents and teachers just need permission." Permission to slow down. Permission to spend an afternoon outside. Permission to get muddy. Permission to leave the dishes in the sink because the creek is calling. Permission to wonder. It made me think about how easy it is to fill summer with good intentions. Camps, vacations, sports, reading...

Towards the start of my teaching career, I had a student that I was constantly butting heads with. He challenged every direction I gave. He questioned everything. We seemed to spend more time frustrating each other than actually learning. One afternoon, I realized that nothing I was doing was working. So, I decided to stop trying to fix the situation and start trying to understand it. "Hey bud," I said. "It feels like we're driving each other bananas. What's going on? How can I help?" Without...

Recently, I've found myself thinking about a simple question: What does it mean to protect childhood? Not preserve it in amber. Not pretend the world hasn't changed. Not reject technology or modern life. Simply protect it. Because childhood feels different than it did when many of us were growing up. Children today are navigating a world that is louder, faster, more connected, more scheduled, and more carefully managed than ever before. They are exposed to more information, more expectations,...