How Much Alone Time Do Kids Need?

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What if my kid doesn’t have friends? That thought probably occurs to most parents at some point. People tend to worry about toddlers developing social skills, tweens getting included at school, and teens finding a supportive friend group; they wonder about the boy playing by himself in the sandbox, and fear a poorly attended birthday party. But although they dwell on whether kids have too much alone time, adults don’t tend to consider whether kids have enough of it. In fact, researchers told me, people seem entirely uncomfortable with the idea of a solitary child.

Kids’ lives, to be fair, aren’t always conducive to solitude; the younger ones require supervision, and the older ones are often busy trying to fit in. It’s true that time spent alone