Why Taking Your Kids Out More Often Helps Them Grow Up

Newsweek · Anna Rahmanan · 2026-11-05 12:00 UTC

From Broadway shows to restaurant dinners, ordinary outings teach children independence, patience and life skills they can't learn by staying home.

Just a few weeks ago, I used this space to wonder how many afterschools are too many afterschools for the kids. Turns out, I love them, although I do understand the need for relaxation, unstructured play and the occasional afternoon spent doing absolutely nothing. Today, however, I'd like to dissect another sort of children's outing, one that I've come to define as regular life.

Here's where the thought came from: last month, I took my 7-year-old daughter to her first Broadway show (Wicked, if you were wondering) and, the following morning, my husband remarked that she suddenly seemed bigger, more mature, more…not 7?

It wasn't the first time we'd noticed a transformation of the sort. It happens after vacations, for example, or weekends spent doing things we don't ordinarily do during the week: going out to a nice dinner, driving into Manhattan and simply walking around, even visiting a bookstore.

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