Oh Kristin, this totally hits home.  The DC area is a total pressure cooker and kids are encouraged to work, work, work at a very young age.  I'm sure it is true of other areas as well, but it really worries me.  Of course we want our kids to have a great education, which every child deserves, but I am not ready to sacrifice their play time!  I don't know if you have read "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv but that is another good book that argues for unstructured outdoor playtime.  When I read it, I cried that our kids may not have the same experiences that we did as kids.  For me in particular, I immediately thought of things like searching all day for agates at Lake Superior, running on the dunes at Wesley Woods, and mucking around in the drainage ditch searching for snails at my parent's farm.  Anyway, I am sort of rambling, but I loved this post, thanks for writing it.