Being able to jump off a swing is actually a useful and meaningful thing for a child to do... those are the tests that help us understand the limits of our body. That's a positive learning experience that we deny children on a regular basis.

Tinkering is a way of understanding difficult problems, of wrapping our heads around them and quantifying the unknowns.

When we protect children from every possible source of danger, we also prevent them from having the kinds of experiences that develop their sense of self-reliance, their ability to assess and mitigate risk, and their sense of accomplishment.

Kids who grow up in radically different environments are always going to have different comfort levels with regard to a topic. If you don't live near a train track, it's hard to squash a penny that way, and if you live in an apartment in New York City, it may be difficult to get to drive a car.

The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.

But parents and schools have their priorities; making sure our kids eat right because research shows a clear connection between nutrition and student performance in school.

Yes, many immigrants cherish the value of choice and opportunity and the value of education more than 7th or 8th generation Americans.

I went to something like six different schools before the age of 12, so I was always the new girl and had to make friends quickly. It was difficult at the start because I was very bookish - I was literally sat in the corner reading books, with no friends.