I couldn't agree more.

I run an award-winning web site for kids, Inkless Tales, at www.inklesstales.com - endorsed by the ALA, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and RIF - heavy hitters - and the site is all designed for learning - but the site is all rigorously tested first.

By kids. For fun.

My own kids? We have "do-nothing" days. Lots of them. For many of the same reasons the author states above. I see too many of my friends racing their kids from lesson to lesson to game to whatever, too busy to notice the poor child in a semi-state of shock.

My own kids? Whenever they tell me they're bored, I tell them what my grandmother - the Champion Idle Parent - used to tell me: "Only boring people are bored. Go find something to do."

After all, kids do what you DO. Not what you SAY. They'll imitate you living life, learning, reading, occupying yourself. They'll resent a martyr parent. They'll model themselves after a parent who lives an authentic life.

-elizabeth williams bushey
www.inklesstales.com
www.inklesstunes.com