Do we know how to play?

I was talking with a friend recently about how different being a kid is today from when we grew up... I remember how my own mom would practically throw us out of the house each morning to run with the rest of the neighbor kids until lunch.  Lunch meant we could come home to eat and then we were immediately sent back out for the afternoon.  The entire summer went that way... When it was Christmas break or Easter break, it was generally the same thing.  Our parents didn't plan our entire summer or Christmas or Easter vacations for us...we were expected to use our imaginations and create our own entertainment.

I just spent the past week home with O...no school for her, and time away from work for me.  I found myself planning things...ice skating, a play date with school friends, seeing the latest Disney movie, etc.  So, what I wonder is this... Do parents plan all of these activities for their kids or do we do it to entertain ourselves?  Do we know how to "play" with our kids?  With all of the things in our day-to-day lives, do we just not know anymore how to stay home and do nothing when we have the chance?

As parents we have created the idea that our kids need us to entertain them...whether that means enrolling them in all sorts of activities or lining up things for them to do.  What would happen if we just let them play and be kids?  What if they learned to use the imaginations that they were born with?  Or, is this really about the secret fear that our kid will be the only one who didn't learn how to play soccer, take ballet, or swim before the age of five?  Has it all turned into a competition?  Does being the best parent now mean making sure your child isn't the only one to not do something?

Have we got our kids so scheduled that they don't have the chance to just be kids?  We spent our toddler years just playing... our parents didn't worry like we do about whether or not we would be "behind" if we went to kindergarten without knowing how to read.  Isn't that what school is for?  To teach our kids what they need to know?  We learned what we needed to and grew up and went to college and got jobs...and then turned into crazy people who worry our own kids might miss something.

I don't have the answer... I know that I miss the carefree days of being a kid, with no responsibility and the ability to live in the moment without thinking about what comes next.  I want that for my own daughter... I want her to have the chance to just be a kid and not worry about being smarter, or more talented, or more "ready" for school than her friends.  But, I admit...I am planning things to do tomorrow when the two of us have nothing to do...because I just don't know if I can sit still for another Curious George episode...