Can my child be overscheduled?
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RealAge answered:A national poll found that 80 percent of parents with kids age two to eleven said that parents today overschedule their children. Yet only one in eight thought their child was overscheduled. (“Overbook my child? Moi?”) From the children and parents I see, I strongly suspect it’s much more common than one in eight. Many children are way overbooked with activities, and it’s their parents’ doing. Some parents seem to think the more a child does, the better. Not true.
But I empathize. We all feel the pressure of wanting to be great parents and have talented, happy, and content kids, but are you stressed out from trying to raise a superchild? It’s easy to get caught in this web, especially when your best friend tells you that her eight-year-old is excelling in gymnastics, French, molecular biology, and the cello. Parents experience peer pressure, too.
While it’s important to expose your children to new ideas and experiences, you really want them to persevere with an activity they are good at and find enjoyable.
That last point is key. When kids excel at something they enjoy, it makes them feel empowered to try other new activities.
From The Smart Parent's Guide: Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, and Accidents by Jennifer Trachtenberg.
Find out more about this book: The Smart Parent's Guide: Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, an...
A national poll found that 80 percent of parents with kids age two to eleven said that parents today overschedule their children. Yet only one in eight thought their child was overscheduled. (“Overbook my child? Moi?”) From the children... More
