As I'm rushing the kids out of the house for school, I bump into a mother who lives two blocks away. We've met two or three times and Rose and her daughter, J., had an improptu play date over a year ago.

Other mother: J. would love to get together with Rose.
Debby: Great. What about during spring break?
Other mother: Great. Here's my phone number.

So, I don't blow her off. Mid spring break I call.

Debby: Hi, it's Rose's mom.
Other mother: Oh, J. doesn't have spring break this week. We only have voice lessons on Wednesdays.

I do a quick mental review of Rose's schedule: Mondays, every other week play date with Miriam's grandparents, rearrangeable; Tuesdays, yoga; Wednesdays, dance class; Thursdays, swim class; Fridays free.

Debby: Great. How about Mondays or Fridays?
Other Mother: Friday we are going to our cabin.
Debby: Monday?
Other Mother: Every other Monday we have Brownies.
Debby: What about Monday two and a half weeks from now?
Other Mother: Great.

Really, it's not usually this egregious. We can pull together a play date with friends from school in under a week, sometimes the next day. We regularly just stop by Nolan's house and play with him or run over to Olivia's. And certainly we have non-stop play dates with the cousins. But basically, all these kids are overscheduled. I had kept it to 2 activities a week and then yoga crept in. Next year, we are bagging yoga, dance class, and possibly swimming. We are probably adding piano and Rose is deciding between gymnastics, ice skating, and Irish step dancing.