In the stream of operating smartphones and working social media, experiencing rigorous academics well before formal schooling, and filling up the day with multiple lessons and competitions, some developmentalists — count me in here — worry that we’re also taking away opportunities for kids to develop the kinds of skills and values that get established early in life and last a lifetime.

Part of the problem is that in pushing so hard for our kids to be “advanced” and to “achieve” we are reducing essential learning that will help kids become doers — people who will be able to navigate what will undoubtedly be an uncertain future and in the process be primed for defining, chasing and securing their own vision of success.

We don’t have to eliminate all of the modern features of growing up today but we can make sure that we aren’t doing away with the seminal experiences kids need to learn how to do for themselves.

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