I write at the crossroads of raising independent kids and parenting practice. Explore my latest articles on Substack and Medium.
I currently write for Seattle’s Child Magazine. For me, writing is an ongoing communications project, and platforms like Medium and Substack help me exchange ideas in a way that’s accessible and interactive. In today’s digital space, writing about childhood independence and the future is meant to spark meaningful conversations.
Substack
- Parents are coming for Big Tech, but there's work to be done at home
by Elizabeth Hunter on March 24, 2026 at 7:56 pmIt's the "social" part of social media that keeps kids coming back
- Please Dance: How Surveillance Culture Strips Us of Silliness
by Elizabeth Hunter on February 25, 2026 at 9:23 pmYoung adults are so afraid of being filmed and humiliated they won't even dance at concerts anymore.
- All things it devours
by Elizabeth Hunter on January 20, 2026 at 9:51 pmHow giving kids independence frees up parents' precious time and makes parent-child experiences more meaningful
- Childhood Independence 101
by Elizabeth Hunter on November 14, 2025 at 11:17 pmThis post was originally published on Medium and re-published by Seattle's Child Magazine. It is a tried-and-true guide for childhood independence I came up with almost two years ago!
- Parenting Independent Kids: An Interview with Digital Anthropologist Beth Kelley
by Elizabeth Hunter on October 28, 2025 at 5:36 pmAuthors note: I encountered Beth Kelley through Substack—she shared a post I made about tracking our kids, and something in my gut told me I’d found a friend in the fight.
Seattle Child Magazine
Medium
- The canary is dead
by Elizabeth Hunter on October 15, 2024A survey and a story to help us understand parents’ cognitive dissonance around childhood independenceRecently I had the good fortune to interview Sarah Clark, MPH, a research scientist at the […]
- A quick response to the Surgeon General’s Op-Ed on overburdened parents
by Elizabeth Hunter on September 2, 2024Dear Dr. Murthy,Thank you for calling attention to overburdened parents in your New York Times Op-Ed this weekend. I appreciate many of your insights, but you missed one crucial recommendation that […]
- Too busy to play
by Elizabeth Hunter on August 27, 2024How our busy lives pushed independent play out of the picture“It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?” -Henry David Thoreau“Beware the barrenness […]
- Resources for the Independent-Curious Caregiver
by Elizabeth Hunter on July 14, 2024Below is a list of resources that informs my writing and discussions about childhood independence.Some of these sources are more than a decade old. This is not a new problem. What is new is the […]
- Leveraging play: Western society’s public health efforts to address childhood obesity turn playtime…
by Elizabeth Hunter on July 8, 2024Leveraging play: Western society’s public health efforts to address childhood obesity turn playtime into a jobAll work and no play…For more than 20 years, public health experts in Western […]