Goofing around? Holy Cannoli! This girl is engaged in an exercise that I would almost kill to be able to do. She has the strength, the mobility, the balance, and the motivation to achieve a handstand, and the New York Times dubs it "fooling around"?

If she were in a leotard, in a gym, up at 4:30am every weekday, practicing for the Olympics, we would applaud the self-discipline and dedication. But just to move her body for fun, in an incredibly healthy and vibrant way, is affectionately dismissed as "time-wasting." Imagine the consequences if Sydney were to enage in this behavior at school, perhaps for two minutes between math and spelling. She's be a troublemaker, a discipline problem, a candidate for ritalin.

It's not just Wheee that's devalued in our society and our schools. Ahhh also gets short shrift…

When I was a schoolteacher, one of the mantras I heard myself repeating daily was, "What are you doing?" I generally said this to kids who, to my trained eye, were doing nothing. Just sitting, spacing, ignoring me, avoiding their "real" work, doodling, chatting with neighbors, caressing their collection of Magic cards, daydreaming, or something else equally "non-productive."

It took me a long time to learn that just being, rather than always producing, was a natural and desirable state. And it's one that is forever being drilled out of kids by well-meaning martinets like me.

So, fellow well-meaning parents who are struggling to shed a lifetime of anti-fitness prejudices, let's redouble our efforts to see the wildness and stillness of our children as good things, as their (and our) birthrights, as the path to wellness and happiness that eludes so many in our lockstep worship of productivity.