Erika Christakis

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My Writing on Children

Here is a selection of my published work on issues
affecting children, teens and young adults:

Responding Thoughtfully to Children’s Fears, Child Care Exchange, November 2020

School Wasn’t So Great Before COVID, Either, The Atlantic, November 2020

For Schools, the List of Challenges Grows and Grows, The Atlantic, May 2020

Closing Schools Is Not the Only Option The Atlantic, March 2020

Should We Worry That Children Are Becoming Less Creative? Washington Post guest blog,  December 2019

Why is it so hard to give children the space and time to play? Defending the Early Years (DEY) guest blog,  September 2019

What’s Lost When We Rush Through Childhood? Edutopia interview, August 2019

The Real Cause of the College Admissions Scam? Snowplow Parenting. Fatherly.com, March 2019

Active-Shooter Drills Are Tragically Misguided, Atlantic, March 2019

The Dangers of Distracted Parenting, Atlantic, July, 2018

The War on Public Schools, Atlantic, October 2017

Why It’s Better to Be a Parent Than “To Parent”, (Book review of Alison Gopnik’s The Gardener and the Carpenter) The Washington Post, August 19, 2016

Beyond the Summer Book List: How To cultivate a Childhood Reading Habit, The Washington Post, June 9, 2016

The Amazing Things 4-year-olds Say When Given the Chance to Speak Freely, Salon, March 19, 2016

For Children, Play is Learning, The New York Daily News, March 6, 2016

How the Reversal of Adult and Child Roles is Hurting Kids, The Atlantic, March 10, 2016

The New Preschool Is Crushing Kids, The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2016

We Need To Learn More About Young Men Like the Boston Bomber, Not Less, TIME.com July 18, 2013

The Boy Scouts Have A Lot To Learn From the Girl Scouts, TIME.com, May 23, 2013

Want To Reduce Sports Violence? Make Teens Referee Their Own Games, TIME.com, May 8, 2013

Yes, Suzy Lee Weiss, The College Admissions Game Is Rigged, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, April 3, 2014

What’s Really Scandalous About the School Testing Scandal, TIME.com April 2, 2013

Want To Prevent Teen Pregnancy? Pay Teens Not To Get Pregnant, TIME.com March 12, 2013

The Paradox of Preschool, Cognoscenti, March 4, 2013

The Catch-22 of Obama’s Preschool Plan, TIME.com February 19, 2013

Do Teachers Really Discriminate Against Boys? TIME.com February 6, 2013

What the Pygmies Can Teach Us About Childrearing, TIME.com January 30, 2013

Flu Prevention: Why Are Adults Still Sneezing Into Their Hands? TIME.com January 15, 2013

Whither Goes Free Speech at Harvard? TIME.com December 4, 2012

Adults Read Too Much Into “Sesame Street,” TIME.com November 27, 2012

Grownups in Costumes: Have Adults Ruined Halloween? TIME.com October 23, 2012

The Argument You Don’t Hear About Birth Control in Schools, TIME.com September 26, 2012

Harvard Cheating Scandal: Is Academic Dishonesty on the Rise? TIME.com September 4, 2012

Why Children Need Play,  August 1, 2012

Why Birth Control Matters For the American Dream, TIME.com July 17, 2012

Summer Camp: Can It Make Kids More Responsible? TIME.com July 10, 2012

Child’s Play: A Manifesto, July 7, 2012

Modern Parenting: Do We Really Need to Re-invent the Wheel? TIME.com July 5, 2012

The School Bus Bullies: Are Adults To Blame Too? TIME.com June 26, 2012

Should We Stop Telling Kids That They’re Special? TIME.com June 12, 2012 

College Drinking: Maybe Not a Disorder But Still a Big Problem, TIME.com May 22, 2012

The Hypocrisy of Breast Feeding Shamers, Huffington Post, May 14, 2012

The Good News In Teen Births Isn’t Good Enough, TIME.com May 8, 2012

Too Busy for A Summer Job? Why America’s Youth Lacks Basic Work Skills, TIME.com, May 1, 2012

Did Etan Patz Mark the End of Carefree Parenting? TIME.com 4/24, 2012

The Lessons of the ‘Jesus Is Not a Homophobe’ T-shirt, TIME.com 4/9/12

The Ohio School Shooting: Are Parents To Blame When Kids Take Guns To class? TIME.com  2/28/12

What Got Lost in the Debate About Birth Control, TIME.com 2/20/12 

Our Concern Over ‘Indecency’ Is Misguided, TIME.com 1/13/12

Why Are We Depriving Our Teens Of Sleep? TIME.com 11/18/11

Has Empathy Become The New Scapegoat? TIME.com 10/12/11

The Call of the Dolphin Mother, CNN. com, January 15, 2011

Want To Get Your Kids Into College? Let Them Play, CNN.com December 29, 2010

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