Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society

An expert in child development champions the importance of an unhurried childhood

As our children are pushed harder than ever to perform so that they will one day "make the grade" in the adult world, parents are beginning to question the wisdom of scheduling childhood's basic pleasures. Across the country there have been parent rebellions against the overburdening with homework of young children by school officials bent on improving standardized test scores. And the "birth to three" movemen...