When we moved to our new school district I was happy that it’s academics were phenomenal but worried at the same time that homework would take over family life. I had heard horror stories over the past ten years of an avalanche of homework overwhelming both kids and parents.

Thankfully this has not happened to us and Hannah gets time to learn, create and play. Too many parents, pundits and what I like to call academic do nothings, don’t realize how important play is to the development of our kid’s brains.

Thankfully, parents and experts are starting to speak out.

There’s an interesting story across the news wires today about the loss of playtime for America’s children. On the surface this may not seem as important as what’s going on overseas or in Washington, but I think you might want to take a second look here.

Mounting evidence shows that all work and no play makes Jack and Jill not only obese but dull and uninteresting. So says more and more psychologists and other experts. What’s to blame for an epidemic of dullards coming out of American schools? TV? High-fructose corn syrup? The internet?

While these are all bad for you, none apparently are as insidious as homework. That’s right. Too much homework makes Jack a dull boy and Jill uninterested in forming healthy relationships. After a busy day at school, kids come home to do homework and have time for nothing else. Sure they go off to a variety of organized sports, but often never play with the kids next store.

The funny thing is that the same thing is happening to moms and dads. The preponderance of devices that seem to run our lives instead of enhancing them is scary. Blackberries, cell phones and emails are only serving to isolate us all by having us bring our work home.

Men and women already have a hard enough time communicating.  it used to be that dad would get home, ask what’s for dinner and then enjoy dinner with his wife and kids. today things are different. Obviously mom works now thereby changing the household dynamic considerably. Dad for his part gets home then goes into the basement or home office to catch up on emails.

The nation’s 50% divorce rate  illustrates this and will no doubt get higher.  If we train them from birth to have as little human interaction as possible, divorce rates can only get worse.

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