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Parentpedia
Over-Scheduling
What Experts Say
Chances are, every kid on your block is juggling music lessons, sports practices, theater rehearsals, or a myriad of other extra-curricular activities designed to put them on the track to future success.
Resist the pressure to follow suit, says psychologist Alvin Rosenfeld, author of "The Overscheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper-Parenting Trap." Today's fast-paced society encourages parents to shuttle their children from activity to activity, Rosenfeld argues, leaving too little free time to just be a family and enjoy spending time together.
Not only does this pattern leave the entire family irritable, recent research shows that an over-scheduled, pressure-filled childhood is...
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Put white space on your calendar.
It's so easy to get caught up in the activity vortex these days. All those flyers come home for everything from travel sports to drama class, and they seem so tempting. But you can drive your kids and yourself crazy if you say yes to all of them.
In our house, we make sure the kids have a few activity free afternoons a week where they can just play for fun. We also keep their sports to one per season, and we never add on an activity to an already scheduled night.
Plus, we keep travel time in mind. If it's an hour-long activity, but requires 90 minutes of driving time, maybe it's not worth it. We try to carpool wherever possible and we keep our Sunday afternoons free.
If your kids are routinely doing their homework by the light in your mini-van, you've all got too much going on. Put some white space in your calendar before you all burn out.
Jen Singer, Disney Parenting Team Advisor
Creator, MommaSaid.net
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July 18, 2007
a tiny, short-lived, nervous breakdown...
My ten-year old daughter gets differing opinions about extra-curricular activities from myself and my ex-husband. He likes for her to have every millisecond filled. And I'm much more moderate. It's been very confusing for her.... read more
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