It seems to me that there is waaaaaay too much overfocus on the children and that keeping them so overly “booked” is not good for them. I mean a kid needs to have some time hanging in the front yard, bored to DEATH in the summer time. It is in that moment of complete and utter boredom that they learn to access their imagination and that brings brain function into action and creativity and voila, pretty soon they are not bored. I attended a continuing ed course for speech pathologists for kids with attention deficit disorders not so long ago and the psychologist teaching that course said, the single most important thing a parent can do for a kid is create situations of “functional boredom.” Like that cross country car trip. Or, a long lazy summer day with NO plans. Not talking every day, but some days. That is what summer is about.