As parents and educators, we have been fooled into acting as though the measures of our success are a child's transcript, resume, financial portfolio, and shopping cart.

I want to suggest instead, time spent in meaningful conversation with known adults, eating good food with good people, and growing alone through daydreaming, reading, or creating are all better predictors of our success and our children's happiness. Each of these activities allows a child to settle into a place, a people, and themselves. Each of them is also the merciless victim of an up-to-date, keeping-up lifestyle.

More is not always better, but enough is always best. This week I challenge you to restrain yourself and cut back something of yours and the children you serve to a quantity of one.

For example:

• Each child, or all of them collectively, may get to choose one toy for the week, while the rest go away.
• You and your children might limit your social media checks or show viewings to one this week.
• Each child and/or yourself may get to choose one book for the entire week.
• You might pick just one out-of-house activity to attend this week, skipping the rest and weighing how much they are serving you.