babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Actually, Kids Are Not Overscheduled
Sports three nights a week. Also, ballet, karate, piano. All after six-plus hours, five days a week, of school (homework not included!). Sounds like the trappings of an over-scheduled child. Sounds awful.
Not really, argue two moms for Mamapedia. In fact, kids topped off with unrelenting organized activities is a good thing. They’re better students. They’re healthier kids. Heck, a stuffed calendar with everyone running in different directions actually brings families closer together!
In “Busy is Better: Debunking the Over-Scheduled Myth,” Jenny Deam and Romi Lassally cite study after study that show benefits and no detriment to signing kids up for hours and hours of adult-instructed fun. A 2006 Yale study found the more time spent in organized activities, the “better their grades, the higher their self-esteem and the richer their relationships with their parents.” Another found kids are closer to their parents today than they’ve ever been in history.
The story links to a survey on Cozi, a site designed to help readers with busy lives, asking them to self-report their levels of satisfaction with their kids’ schedules. They say 86 percent of the families who did 16 or more hours of activities a week reported to be happy for very happy. Sixty-eight percent were either happy or very happy with their kids’ activity levels.
All of which shows the parents who have busy kids want busy kids.
But digging down in their survey, things get interesting. A huge number agree with the notion that organized activities allow for new experiences. Scroll down, however, and a not-so-huge but still significant number tend to agree that the activities impede on other family priorities; cause kids to feel anxious, pressured or rushed; and intrude on the kids’ free-time keeping them from being creative or self-reliant.
I think some families really thrive on organized activities — it’s sort of their thing. Personally, doing the schedules and all that driving is exhausting, not to mention expensive. So my kids spend a lot of downtime playing on their own or with each other. Which is fine with all of us. I bet a survey of us “under-scheduled” families would show similar results.
I also question the schedules-grades connection. Are kids who do lots of activities really smarter? Or are they simply better at delivering on what’s expected of them?
Maybe I’m justifying my own parental laziness, but I often think my kids will be the grown-ups in the office that their coworkers are looking at to walk the company out of some unexpected mess or another — the others having had too little experience making things up as they go. Instead of looking around for a coach or a playbook or a mother-figure off in the distance waiting in a mini-van (high self-esteem firmly in tact), mine will be the ones saying “let’s try this, not that.”
More Posts
Now Babies Get Too Much Vitamin D
Missing a Teacher Conference May Land Parents in Jail
‘Wired’ Dad Defends Plugged In Parenting
Mom’s Prison Sentence Delayed Due to Childcare
Babies Born at Night Higher Risk of Death
Clingy Women, Gregarious Men Make the Most Babies
Swedish Envy: Eat Your Heart Out, Dads
White Teacher Tells Biracial Student Her Hair is Sickening
Law Forces Breastfeeding … of Grown Men!
More Bad Marriage News From the Gores
Girl’s Skull Cracked During Pro Game
Why Lesbian Couples Raise Better Kids
Baby Gaga Mom: Handcuff Necklace No Biggie
Photo: parra.catholic.edu.au
Go Back To Strollerderby
2 Comments
[...] They punch really hard. This isn’t the product of after school karate classes (mine are not over-scheduled kids), rather it’s thanks to their dad. He’s got a whole thing he does, “come on [...]
Rough Dads Teach Kids to Take Chances | Strollerderby commented on Jun 18 10 at 7:36 pmJosette at Halushki.com commented on Sep 30 11 at 3:41 pmNaw. My kids are scheduled to the gills during the week, with enough downtime on the weekends to get themselves into all varieties of creative trouble.
Skating, scouts, soccer, middle school, elementary school, clarinet, violin, piano, honor students, up at 5:30 AM and down by 8:30 PM.
What I see with kids – especially girls – is that by about 4th grade, the kids with too much time on their hands spend in in front of screens and with Girl Intrigues and getting interested in boys and sex verrrrrryyyy early. The kids who are busy are too busy to be anything but the age they are meant to be.
My eldest is 12 and she can get herself up in the am, pack her day’s meals, work out before and after school, get her homework done in study hall (when other kids have be to given worksheets because, really, they can’t figure out what to do with their time), gets her music practice in, helps with chores, and hits the hay at a reasonable hour for 9+ hours of sleep every night (another things a lot of kids can’t do these days because they just don’t seem tired enough.)
She does this all on her own with little guidance from me on a daily basis; plus, her coaches and music teachers are additional mentors in her life, so she’s not always looking to mom or on her own – something that might be okay for adults, but not always a good thing for kids trying to figure life out. Learning that there are other people out there to work through problems is a good skill, as well. She knows that she can be as much of a maverick as she wants, but knows that there are communities of mentors if she needs them.
I was a very free range kid. I got into all kinds of trouble because my creativity wasn’t pointed in any direction. A balance is necessary, but for myself, I still see too many “wandering souls” .
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
2