First hour: Discussing free-range parenting and unstructured play
Second hour: Updates from the Unified Sports program
The mayor of Ithaca has declared the city to be a “free range kids city.” Mayor Svante Myrick says he believes in the power of play, and Ithaca’s proclamation supports parents who give their kids unsupervised, unstructured play time. This hour, we discuss the free-range parenting movement and how unstructured play can impact child development. We’ll also talk about the barriers to free-range play and how parents can overcome them. Our guests:
- Erick Stephens, parent engagement specialist for the Healthi Kids initiative at Common Ground Health and father of four
- Emily Rittenberg, parenting educator for Nurture: Family Education & Guidance and mother of two
- Rusty Keeler, co-founder of the Just Play Project
Then in our second hour, what does a truly inclusive sports program look like? We sit down with members of the Unified Sports, a program whose teams include players with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their peers. We’ll hear from a Unified Sports athlete and from program organizers about how to create more inclusive schools and communities. In studio:
- Nathan Johnson, senior director of the Unified Sports program for Special Olympics New York
- Kyle Washburn, director of fitness for Special Olympics International
- Jacob Booher-Babcock, Special Olympics New York athlete and a member of the Athlete Congress (Brockport)
- Lesli Myers, superintendent of the Brockport Central School District
This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.
