The Star – Andrea Orr
“Tennis, soccer and track. Piano and band. It sounds like a lot, especially to anyone who was raised to just go outside and play. But here’s what I’ve found: Even with aftercare until at least 6 p.m. every weekday, the demands of homework, regular reading, a pretty busy social calendar and a pet, there remains enough downtime in my 9-year-old daughter’s life that I still have to restrict screen time. And that’s in a household that doesn’t have many screens. If there’s one parenting cliché more common than that of the overbooked child whose spare time is filled with sports practice, tutoring sessions and music lessons, it’s the one about the pasty kid who languishes in front of video games starved for exercise, fresh air and human contact. Considering that alternative, is being busy so bad?”(more)