Category Archives: Uncategorized

At home, children are bombarding themselves with digital media – eight hours a day, according to a prominent study. Most older kids do their homework while “multitasking” with Facebook or texting on a nearby screen and music blaring in their ears. “In terms of sheer quantity of time, I’m not sure that kids spend any more time on homework than we did,” says Janis Whitlock, Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescence and Young Adults. “But … Continue reading →

Over the past month, I’ve been interviewing many parents of young “doers” – entrepreneurs, makers, software hackers, and social innovators. Soon, I’ll be writing many articles about what these parents and their children have in common, but one conclusion is so obvious that, frankly, it’s not worthy of a lot of writing or analysis: Doers don’t watch TV.

My wife and I moved our family out of San Francisco seven years ago largely because neighborhood public schools don’t exist there. We wanted our first son, age one at the time, to go to a good public school together with neighbor kids who live right around us. Unfortunately, San Francisco’s school integration policy makes it highly unlikely that children of a middle or upper-middle class neighborhood can attend a school in their own neighborhood. As a result of this … Continue reading →

Marco, age 8, plays a lot more than most of his peers. My wife and I are very happy that he has such a fun childhood, but we also have a family to run. Fortunately, he’s begun to channel some of his play in a direction that helps our family function. “Dad, I forgot! I gotta do it now, before I go to bed!!!” exclaimed eight-year-old Marco last night. “Don’t worry about it. Missing one day is no big deal.” … Continue reading →

Smartphone users no longer have to struggle with the computer version of Playborhood.com. From now on, when you navigate to Playborhood.com on a smartphone like an iPhone, Android phone, or Blackberry, you’ll get a user interface optimized for your screen size. Yay!

Jennifer Wagner is a nuclear engineer. Right now, though, she’s mostly a stay-at-home mom, working just two days a week. She likes it that way. “I don’t really miss the financial rewards of working full-time,” she says. Jennifer, her husband, and her two boys (3 and 1) live in a cozy apartment complex in Mountain View, California. They could probably afford a nicer place if she was working. “Back in Texas,” Jennifer Wagner notes, “everyone our age we know who … Continue reading →

Neighborhood Play, Every Day presented by: Mike Lanza, Playborhood.com Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp in San Francisco, CA Thursday, June 2, 2011 2:45pm – 3:45pm

NOTE: This is the third of a three-part series on the value of play, by Robert Hess. The first article is entitled, Play’s Unfortunate Reputatlon, and the second is entitled Play and Learning. Thanks to the findings of Dr. Stuart Brown and other play scientists, we now know that more play, rather than less play, will maximize learning. Play maximizes learning by enhancing both the breadth and depth of our minds. From a neurological perspective, playing broadens our brains’ capacities … Continue reading →