I yearn for those moments. I yearn for lazy Saturday mornings spent lounging in pajamas -- not for my sake (although, it sure would be nice to catch up on some sleep!), but for our sake. We need them. We cherish those moments. And they are far too rare.

I feel guilty because my kids don't do enough, then feel guilty when I make them participate. I came to the point where I had to make a decision for our family.

Subjecting a child to a life of highly structured and fast-paced activity in order to prepare him/her for the world is a well-meaning falsehood and a more than serious mistake.

I stayed up till after midnight last night to handle a crisis. A popular local summer program had announced it would be opening its online registration at exactly 12:00:00 AM, and word on the street was that if I wanted a particular camp, I needed to log-in precisely at that moment.

The epidemic of overly-scheduled kids has caught the attention of educators, doctors and child psychologists over the past few decades. And not surprisingly, overscheduling kids leads to the same stress-related health and psychological problems that overscheduled adults experience.

Modern dance class. Lacrosse practice. Chinese lessons. With school starting, you may be evaluating your kids' schedules and how much they can manage....

Dr. Bill Doherty, a therapist and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota, decided children's birthday part...