Why go outdoors to bask in the sunlight of a gorgeous southern California winter day when you can stay in and scatter everything you’ve ever owned gleefully across the living room floor? Seventy-seven degrees and not a cloud in the sky? Overrated. This is where my kid wants to be. “Playing and playing and playing!”

Who am I to stop her? We spent the whole morning outside. If, this afternoon, her exuberance is taking on a particularly material form all over my formerly clean floors? There’s always after bedtime to recover. And tomorrow I’ll keep her at the playground a bit longer.

Having said all of that, I just heard an entire jar of coins get overturned. Maybe it’s time for a forced march to the park after all. Even exuberance needs a bit of vitamin D.