Over Scheduling our Kids – Why?

As I sat this week at my daughters swimming lesson watching her learn the butterfly I engaged in conversation with a very nice mother who was also watching her child in the same class. I had been reading a magazine from the newspaper that was full of yummy summer recipes that caught not only my eye but my taste buds as well. I shared a few of the photos and meal ideas with this nice mother which lead into a great conversation between the two of us. It was one of those conversations that makes you think about life and how we spend our time and our children’s time.

During our conversation this mother began to tell me that she wouldn't even dream of preparing any of the food we were looking at due to her intense schedule with the children. She talked of swimming lessons 2 afternoons a week, dance lessons for 2.5 hours 2 times a week (except when they are preparing for a recital when the days usually increase to 3) plus piano and math's tutoring each week and that’s only for one of her two children. Her weekly activities mean that they finally drag themselves into their house at approximately 8pm each night at which time dinner is served. All this for an 8 year old! Even I was tired listening to this intense schedule.

As I listened to the woman I kept turning back to the pool to give my daughter the well deserved thumbs up as she reached the end of the pool - the butterfly isn't an easy stroke. I thought of the involvement my children have which includes swimming, horse riding, piano and soccer however our schedule isn't determined or dictated by these activities, rather the activities fit around our home schedule.

I fit these activities around our home schedule because I believe children need to be children and over scheduling should be reserved for boot camp, the doctors office or the like. Children require down time, they need time to play in the back yard, time to allow their imagination to take them away. They need time to stop and watch the world and all her beauty, they need to be given a net to chase butterflies and a looking glass to investigate the life of an ant. Our children need time to become themselves in these moments, they need to spread their own wings and dance in the sunshine and step in puddles when it rains. They need to make mud pies and scrape their knees from that fall off a bike (we all have that memory on one of our knees). Our children need time to be children.

So my friends don’t allow the pressure of ‘activities’ and ‘over achieving’ to steal your child’s childhood, relax and know that as they dig in the back yard dreams are formed, life is being understood, the days will feel long and warm and this they will remember forever.

Susan xoxo

ps – I look forward to your comments on this.....
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