Healthy Kids • YMCA Child Care
How to avoid overscheduling your kids
01 November 2016 - by Cheryl - YMCA Child Care
Team sports, swimming lessons, art class, and music lessons — there are so many extracurricular activities to choose from that many families spend hours getting to and from their classes and lessons every week.
My husband and I plan out our kids’ schedules every season. Between school and swimming lessons (an activity my husband and I agree is a must-do for our two children), it’s difficult to decide what activities to sign up for and what to leave for another season.
Studies show that this is a challenge for many parents. When kids are too busy, they’re likely to be more irritable and grumpier than normal, get tired before their regular bedtime, struggle with focusing at school or completing school work on time, and complain about physical symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches.
How do you give your kids opportunities to explore their interests without going overboard? Here are several tips to avoid overscheduling:
1. Respect their sleep
Children need to sleep. Lack of sleep can cause irritability, stress, hyperactivity, shorter attention span, and hormonal changes associated with obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Determine how much sleep your child needs every night, and work backwards from there to figure out how much time is left over for extracurricular activities.
2. Assess how much time each activity will take
While kids may have many interests, it’s better to focus their extracurricular activities on a few top passions than to sign them up for everything. Consider how much time a certain activity will take before committing to it. Hockey practices and games, piano lessons and practice sessions, and play rehearsals all require a significant investment of time. Remember to factor in how much travel time is involved getting to and from these activities. Choose activities that work around not just your child’s sleep and school schedule, but also the family’s schedule.
3. Make time for boredom
Parents often get anxious when they hear the words “I’m bored, what can I do now?” However, there are many benefits of so-called “boredom”. Encouraging and planning for down-time allows kids to rest and think. Instead of relying on their parents to keep them busy, these unprogrammed moments encourage children to take initiative and engage in more self-directed play.
How do you decide what activities your kids participate in? We’d love to hear how you avoid overscheduling. Tell us about it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
My husband and I plan out our kids’ schedules every season. Between school and swimming lessons (an activity my husband and I agree is a must-do for our two children), it’s difficult to decide what activities to sign up for and what to leave for another season.
Studies show that this is a challenge for many parents. When kids are too busy, they’re likely to be more irritable and grumpier than normal, get tired before their regular bedtime, struggle with focusing at school or completing school work on time, and complain about physical symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches.
How do you give your kids opportunities to explore their interests without going overboard? Here are several tips to avoid overscheduling:
1. Respect their sleep
Children need to sleep. Lack of sleep can cause irritability, stress, hyperactivity, shorter attention span, and hormonal changes associated with obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Determine how much sleep your child needs every night, and work backwards from there to figure out how much time is left over for extracurricular activities.
2. Assess how much time each activity will take
While kids may have many interests, it’s better to focus their extracurricular activities on a few top passions than to sign them up for everything. Consider how much time a certain activity will take before committing to it. Hockey practices and games, piano lessons and practice sessions, and play rehearsals all require a significant investment of time. Remember to factor in how much travel time is involved getting to and from these activities. Choose activities that work around not just your child’s sleep and school schedule, but also the family’s schedule.
3. Make time for boredom
Parents often get anxious when they hear the words “I’m bored, what can I do now?” However, there are many benefits of so-called “boredom”. Encouraging and planning for down-time allows kids to rest and think. Instead of relying on their parents to keep them busy, these unprogrammed moments encourage children to take initiative and engage in more self-directed play.
How do you decide what activities your kids participate in? We’d love to hear how you avoid overscheduling. Tell us about it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
