Stifling the Inner Child?

New York Times writer Michelle Slatalla recounts how her daughter surprised her in "8 Year-Old Finds Her Inner Child" and it makes me wonder: How can we be sure that we're raising children to follow their passions and inner callings and not simply to follow the crowd? And what role do we as parents play in fueling one or the other tendencies?

Slatalla's reaction to her daughter showing an interest in dolls speaks volumes about the kind of parents we all have probably become. Society pushes us forward, economy motivates us upward and technology accelerates our productivity in a time-crunched day. Automatons numb to the simple pleasures and joys? Are we programming our children to be the crazed mutli-taskers we have become?