THE DECLARATION OF CHILDHOOD INDEPENDENCE

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all children are created playful, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty to roam, and the pursuit of at least some happiness without constant adult supervision. That to secure these rights adults must step back so kids step up, as must the government, which means not arresting or investigating parents who let their kids leave the house without a security detail. That whenever an institution becomes destructive of these ends – recess-free school days, travel soccer for 6-year-olds, overbearing HOAs, playgrounds prohibiting two kids on a slide — it is the right of the people to say, ”Enough already!” and to alter their habits and rules, and to institute a new norm of childhood, laying the foundation on such principles as autonomy, curiosity, trust, and giving everyone – parents, kids, strangers – a gosh-darn break. A decent respect for the innate creativity and spunk of child-kind requires…