Film

Chasing Childhood

2021 · 1h 18m · Documentary

All work and no play is no way for kids to grow up.

IMDb

6.8

Rotten Tomatoes

100%

In today's highly charged world of structure, stranger danger, and helicopter parenting, free play in childhood has disappeared, giving way to unprecedented anxiety and depression. This phenomenon impacts kids from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Children's lives are consumed with wall-to-wall activities and constant monitoring-the overprotected, over-directed, over-pressured childhood is the new normal. This film takes us to schools in affluent Wilton, CT; working class Patchogue, NY; and metropolitan Manhattan. Throughout these different stories, a central question emerges: How can we eschew harmful parenting strategies and empower our kids to become their most fully realized, authentic selves? The film offers possible solutions as journalist Lenore Skenazy, evolutionary psychologist Peter Gray, former dean of freshmen at Stanford University Julie Lythcott-Haims, and leaders of the "free play" movement fight to restore a less curated childhood.

• Eden WurmfeldDirector · Producer
• Margaret Munzer LoebDirector · Executive Producer
• Lisa EisenpresserProducer
• Justin ScheinDirector of Photography
• David CieriOriginal Music Composer
• Mary Ann TomanEditor

CHASING CHILDHOOD | Official Trailer (2021)

Release date

June 25, 2021

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 18m

Rated

NR

Genres

Documentary