Last week, the New York Times ran an article that discussed a new movie about stressed out children, and then followed up with interviewed parents who viewed the film. This article received a lot of chatter in the mainstream press and is still being discussed around here.

These trends pieces in New York Times follow a certain pattern. A. The author claims that he has discovered some brand new horror. B. The author interviews three of his friends in Park Slope, or Westchester. . The bad guys are usually suburban moms.

The article rightly points out that over committed kids are mostly found in wealthy suburbs. My kids aren’t experiencing that kind of stress. Instead, Jonah is stressed out by dumb tests and grading rubrics that demand precision, require art projects, and give more credit to neatness than quality. Science and social studies tests are trivial pursuit, while in language arts, they make greeting cards. Stupidity can be stressful, too.

Question of the Day: Are your kids stressed out?