An essay in NEWSWEEK for May13 has what seems to me a useful coinage:"The overscheduled children of 21-century America, deprived of the gift of boredom."

I think it may be true that middle-class kids just don't even have time to think.

More important than being deprived of the gift of boredom ("Boredom," I read on a Bazooka Bubblegum wrapper centuries ago as a child, was "an insult to oneself"...) is being deprived of the gift of daydreaming.

Kids need lots of daydreams. And so do we. I'm envious of painters who sit a long time by a scene painting it. A close friend told me that Renoir and Monet used to sit side by side on the Seine painting... How gloriously wonderful to have to (by occupation) sit in one place outdoors and do your work.

There's a bunch of overscheduled parents to work into that Newsweek equation, too.

Dear WW: I have read the lives of several painters, and I marvel that they had the courage and endurance to live on peanuts, and have the art dealers get rich after they died.

overscheduled

I definitely know what it's like to not experience boredom. I'm not sure I can remember the last time I did that, except that working on a painting or drawing for a long time can approach a different kind of boredom. Fortunately, my classes are winding down now, but a few weeks ago, my main studio professor even agreed with us that we were being given too much work. I often wonder how much more advanced society might be if we had but 25 hours in a day instead.

I can't stop daydreaming though. Whenever I'm walking between classes or working on a project, I'm doing some form of daydreaming. It often prohibits me from getting things done in a speedy manner, but then, so does "wasting" time here.

I often wonder how much more advanced society might be if we had but 25 hours in a day instead. - Jazz-o ~ twenty years old

I think it may be true that middle-class kids just don't even have time to think. - doc bill ~ four score and seven years old lacking a half a score.

An unexamined life is not worth living.

The run from pillar to post allows no time to consider why, why are you running.

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterize our age. - Albert Einstein

You win, doc bill.

In terms of not having time to do anything - I think the world would be a better place if everyone were able to do as I do, and only work 4 days a week - and really only work those 4, rather than try to cram in 5 - or 7! Seriously, it makes for a much better balance... and more people are financially able to do it than think so; it just means being a bit more sensible about spending [I do realise, of course, that there are many for whom this is completely not an option; for them, I have only compassion and a hope that there weekends are precious].

As for overscheduled - I think some managers deliberately overschedule themselves, to look busy. Kids, tho - some of them are totally bored out of their brains, having been fed too much TV and computer-time and therefore not able to think! Not all of them, I know, I know... but certainly some.

Alexis