Project Statement:

As a culture, we are wildly protective of our little ones, often to the point of protecting them from happy accidents and mistakes they might learn from. Young Explorers is a series of short films about what happens when you give kids who are very young -- who have just learned to walk by themselves -- and allow them to explore the world completely on their own terms.

Raising kids is a process filled with love and fulfillment, but also characterized by paranoia. We tend to want to protect our kids from every potential source of harm, shower them with praise, and carefully curate their every experience. But this anxiety and hyper-vigilance is a recent thing. It wasn’t always this way: my dad grew up hunting in his backyard after school; my mom grew up casually cruising around Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

When my daughter was born, I began considering all the ways people think about parenting. All our watchfulness is well-meaning, I think, but it’s also stifling. And ultimately, I think it’s probably limiting. Young Explorers asks us to imagine what happens when we lower our guard, and trust that things will be alright.

Banks at the Beltline

Ada on Coney Island

Tristan in Canarsie

Sylvie in Times Square