1KHO 499: What Have We Done to Childhood? | Dr. Peter Gray, Free to Learn

The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

What Have We Done to Childhood? That’s the question at the heart of this gripping conversation with Dr. Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn and one of the world’s foremost researchers on human development and education. In his fourth appearance on the podcast, Dr. Gray unpacks how cultural shifts—from agricultural hierarchies to today’s anxiety-fueled overprotection—have stripped childhood of its most essential ingredients: freedom, trust, agency, and play. What we call “normal” now—overscheduling, overcontrol, and constant performance pressure—would be unrecognizable, even unthinkable, in every previous era of human history.

This is one of the most urgent and thought-provoking episodes we’ve ever released. It explores the deep cost of replacing play with programming, curiosity with curriculum, and independence with obedience. We don’t need more rigor—we need restoration. If we want to raise kids who are emotionally healthy, socially competent, and equipped for a rapidly shifting world, it starts by asking hard questions. What have we done to childhood? And what can we still do to get it back?

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