Children and activity

I'm attending a conference today and tomorrow on Parenting put on by Healthy Child Manitoba Office. This morning Silken Lauman spoke about her passion for getting children to play and it was quite refreshing in that she discourages children from being in tons of organized activities and urges parents and children to rediscover play, fun and community. I have struggled with feeling weird because I don't want to be out every evening at one activity or another, so it was very affirming to have someone - and an Olympian at that - say that she agrees with me - well, she didn't mention me specifically.

It's also nice to be able to spend time with people who are likewise concerned about children's lifestyles, especially after on my very own blog it was implied that I was obsessed. Notice my blog doesn't allow anonymous comments anymore. It's not that I don't think people should disagree with me - on the contrary, I welcome disagreement (and the chance to trounce you with my superior debating skills). However, I do think that if you're going to call someone obsessive, you should own that comment and not hide behind an anonymous label.