Dance, soccer, basketball, golf, football, baseball, gymnastics, competitive cheer, music or voice lessons, Cub Scouts or Brownies, art lessons, drama and horseback riding, just to name a few. Ask a parent about his or her child's activities and you're bound to get at least three (or six) from the list. Throw school, homework, transportation and meals into the mix and you've got a child that needs a very capable parent EA (executive assistant) to manage the CAS (child activity schedule). As the EA is virtually at the child's schedule's mercy, the logistics of the EA/child working relationship can be a challenge in itself. EA responsibilities sometimes begin while the child is in utero (researching preschools and swimming lessons), and almost immediately following childbirth, when Gymboree and Mommy and Me classes beckon. Like any top notch EA, he/she has juggled and melded the CAS onto an already full plate which most likely includes but is not limited to a wage earning job, household duties, community and/or outreach commitments and management of a current or future sibling of aforementioned child's CAS. Why do we do it? Because the child-rearing books say we should, older, wiser parents have told us the secret to keeping our kids out of trouble is to keep them busy, enrichment for our children or some other reason, entirely our own. Are we tired? Yes. Do we keep doing it? Of course.  Do our kids enjoy it? We think hope so. Do they appreciate it? We don't know. We don't have the time in our schedule to think about it.