Cummings decided to attend a conference about the philosophy of unschooling, which advocates letting children learn through everyday activities like playing with other children rather than through the usual educational curriculum. She was struck with how much freedom the children at the conference enjoyed, including being able to go back to the hotel rooms by themselves and to interrupt their parents in the middle of the conference. Ultimately, however, she was stricken with guilt by the discussion on valuing time with your child. "I skipped the group lunch," Cummings wrote of the conference. "Partially out of sorrow for all that I hadn't provided my daughter and partially because I saw the daily schedule promised 'Pizza n' Karaoke!' which combined two of my worst fears: mandatory public singing and the frivolous amputation of the word 'and.' I hid in the solarium for the lunch hour, making a meal out of Saltines and a peppermint I found in my purse. Thus restored, I dashed off to another meeting about.... well, frankly, I have no idea. My notes from the lecture read: 'Strive for something unlike a results-based paradigm!!!' underlined three times."
