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independent play

A young child playing an educational game on a smartphone indoors, focused on learning.
Elementary (5-11 Years Old) | Infants (0-12 Months) | Play | Pre-School (3-4 Years Old) | Toddler (13-24 Months)

How Screen Time Undermines Independent Play—and Why It Matters for Your Child’s Development

Why Boredom is GOOD for Your Child & How to Let it Happen
Learn | Child Development

Why Boredom is GOOD for Your Child & How to Let it Happen

How to Get a Toddler to Play Independently (Without Tears or Guilt)
Play

How to Get a Toddler to Play Independently (Without Tears or Guilt)

How to encourage/promote independent play in 5 Simple Steps
Play

How to encourage/promote independent play in 5 Simple Steps

Together we’ll slow down, stop rushing our kids through life and raise lifelong learners who will become confident and independent adults. 

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thealannagallo

Helping parents rethink school, screens + modern childhood
Former teacher (M.Ed) → secular homeschooler
Raising curious, real-world-ready kids ↓

I’m not screen-intentional because I think I’m a p I’m not screen-intentional because I think I’m a perfect parent. I’m screen-intentional because I’ve seen what happens when my kids don’t have one to reach for.Follow @thealannagallo for more of our totally intentional, slightly countercultural life.
Nobody designed these games to be educational. Nob Nobody designed these games to be educational. Nobody was thinking about executive function or social development or attention spans.They were just fun.But here’s what’s wild: we were outside, moving, problem solving, competing, failing, and figuring things out together. Without a single screen involved.I think about this a lot when I watch my kids play. The less structured it is, the more they’re actually building.We didn’t need an app for that in 1993. We still don’t.Follow @thealannagallo for more.
Scarier than anything Netflix could come up with. Scarier than anything Netflix could come up with.Because somewhere along the way we decided that 7 year olds needed a 30 step skincare routine, recess was a privilege and not a right, and handing a kid a screen was easier than sitting with their boredom.And schools? Schools stopped assigning novels because kids can’t focus long enough to finish them. We gave them AI generated summaries and called it learning.This is the stuff that actually keeps me up at night. Not monsters. This.Follow @thealannagallo for more of these completely unhinged but entirely true observations.
And notice I said the SYSTEM not TEACHERS. The sys And notice I said the SYSTEM not TEACHERS. The system is failing and all the data backs it up.Let’s stop trying to flex that even 20 years ago teachers couldn’t get kids to read books… like what? 🫠It was bad then and it’s only getting worse (I know because I was a high school teacher for over a decade)…High stakes testing. EdTech. Curriculum choices driven by politics. Lack of teacher autonomy. Lack of parental involvement. 1:1 iPads for kindergartners Excessive screen use at home and in school. Gamified everything. Lack of recess time. Busy work for homework. Large class sizes. Lowering standards.Add that to…A society that doesn’t value the work of teachers. A society that doesn’t value intellectualism. A society that doesn’t value neurodiversity.There is a reason there is a mass exodus of teachers and a reason so many teachers are leaving to homeschool their own kids…
Homeschooling didn’t just change how our kids lear Homeschooling didn’t just change how our kids learn. It changed how we live.When you step off the conveyor belt you’re suddenly forced to ask questions you never thought to ask before. Why are we rushing? What are we teaching them? What are we letting in and what are we keeping out?We don’t have it all figured out. But we’re asking the questions. And that feels like enough.Follow @thealannagallo if you’re asking the same ones.
I don’t justify why we homeschool anymore. I reall I don’t justify why we homeschool anymore. I really don’t.Because when I sit down and actually list out what our days look like... the slow mornings, the history that isn't whitewashed, the fact that my kids have never once had to practice what to do if someone walks into their classroom with a gun – I stop feeling like I have anything to defend.I know it’s not for everyone. But it’s for us. And the longer we do it the more I realize we’re not missing out on anything. We’re opting out. On purpose.Follow @thealannagallo for more of our completely weird, totally intentional life.
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