Oh, I really don't think it's that bad. Somebody pointed out on Tartsville recently that every generation thinks its youth are going to the dogs. And yet somehow every generation seems to produce a reasonable number of smart, introspective, socially responsible people (mixed in with a peppering of jerks and idiots, of course). '50s youth were glued to the TV and weighed down with a mess of sexual and cultural neuroses, yet not only did they turn out OK, but now everybody in that generation looks back on the 1950s in a rose-colored haze of nostalgia. Everybody predicted doom and gloom for "latchkey kids", but I have plenty of friends whose mothers worked and who weren't scarred for life by it.

What happens to you as a young child probably colors your later life in all kinds of weird and unpredictable ways, but it's surely not a direct cause-and-effect: as in, this child has a severely regimented schedule at age 5, so he or she is going to be a dull and colorless adult ... I don't think it's that simple.

But it's still sad to see kids fenced in with adult rules, and I'm sure it does them no favors.