Daybreak at the Sumners' Virginia home.After 14 year old Maeve and her 12 year old sister, Roberta, practice, a full hour, they head off for a full day in school. And they're just getting started. After school, they teach at a private studio, manage also to squeeze in a dance class, a quick meal and homework. It's a grueling 14 hour day, five days every week. Childhood experts warn we're forcing children to grow up so fast, they don't have time to be children. "No one in this country believes in hurrying children. Yet we're hurrying them more and more." Producing stress, he says, and making children depressed, partly, according to a recent university of Michigan study, Because their "free time" has shrunk, down from 40% in 1981 to just 25% last year. While an estimated 40 million children now participate in organized sports, more of them are also quitting. Many parents, though, argue all that activity helps their children comlpete and succeed. While Sumner's daughters are happy, 6 year old Justin Mackie was worn out when his parents enrolled him in 12 different activities. Now they limit him to just two. When children are forced to grow up so quickly, say the experts, something precious gets lost. "Let children be children."
