This award-winning documentary explores how free play and independence have all but disappeared from kids’ lives, supplanted by relentless perfectionism leading to record rates of anxiety and depression, a situation compounded by the pandemic.

Free play, unsupervised by adults, is critical for developing essential life skills: grit, independence, and resourcefulness. Many young adults may appear more accomplished on paper, but by the time they get to college, they are emotionally struggling and lacking the tools needed to live independently.

The film explores how and why helicopter parenting became the norm in many communities across the United States and features experts and advocates in the area of free play including Julie Lythcott-Haims, former Stanford dean and author of How to Raise an Adult, and Peter Gray, a biological psychologist.

DETAILS

• Doors open at 7 PM and the film starts at 7:30 PM.

• Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $6 for Newtown Theatre members.

• Tickets can be purchased only at the box office right before the film.

• Members, please be prepared to present your membership card when purchasing tickets.

• All tickets are general admission.