It’s Hard to Get My Kid Outside

The social commentator Matthew Yglesias posted a note about his son’s childhood on Twitter yesterday — under an amazing (and, to me, infuriating and heartbreaking) graph from the Institute for Family Studies: Wrote Yglesias: My son (age eleven) is definitely allowed to go places in the neighborhood but compared to how I remember myself does not have that much interest in doing so — “at home” has become way more entertaining than it used to be and most of his friends don’t live very close to us. I replied: It’s way easier to get our kids outside when there are friends nearby, of course, but it’s also possible for them to make neighborhood friends — if kids are out and about and visible. How can we help make that happen? A couple ideas: 1 – Organize a “friendship club” with 2 or 3 nearby families: “My kid can knock on your door and vice versa, without pre-planning a playdate.” 2 – Organize a “Let Grow Play Club” or “Free Play Friday.” Notify neighbors that your kids will be playing at a…