Time To Be A Kid?

I overheard a phone conversation the other day, one of the ladies who sits near me at work was trying to coordinate her family getting places on time and in one piece. She's at that unfortunate age where she not only has kids to keep track of - and her husband, of course - but she also has to provide some care for her parents as well. She's got twice the family she thought she did.
   Anyhoo, she was trying to figure out how her daughter could get where she needed to go while also making sure her son made his appointment/practice/hearing/whatever. Lots of things going on, and I chalked it up to 'just one of those days.' Until it happened again. And again. Pretty much every day her kids have places to be and things to do and people to meet, several different activities every day. They're waaaay overscheduled.
   But her kids aren't alone. Most kids these days have all manner of practices and appointments and meetings and what-have-you. It's just crazy. Insane in the membrane.
   When I was in high school I had several activities and clubs I participated in, which mostly I used as an excuse to stay away from home. Teenagers need that kind of thing to find out who they are. But that's not what I'm talking about. These are elementary school kids. Practically babies.
   When I was in elementary school my only activity was playing the cello, and then later I did gymnastics. But I also had time to lay on the lawn and stare up at clouds. Which I did a lot. Or build model cars. Or run around the neighborhood with my friends trying to find the line between fun and vandalism*.
   I think it's a lucky kid these days who can loafe and spend a lot of quality time doing absolutely nothing. There needs to be more 'do nothing' time in schools. We don't need perfectly-behaved robots, we need imaginative, productive members of society. And we're not going to get those kinds of adults if we don't let kids be kids.
   Remember: every day your kid has more things to do than you have yourself, the terrorists win.



*     come to find out the line for fun intrudes well across the line for vandalism. It's fun to toss dead florescent tubes from the fifth floor of a church under construction. They explode good, real good. Makes you feel like Zeus.