Is Your Preteen Over-Scheduled?
The vision of a super busy person is familiar to all of us. In fact, it can sometimes be perceived as a badge of honor. Perhaps it's because the more we're involved in, the more we believe it says about our own drive and achievement orientation, right? TweenParent.com asks, "Why should we expect our preteens to march to the same drum?" Maybe it's to keep our tweens busy while we're occupied…or maybe it's a drive to push our kids to their full potential. Or...maybe we haven't paused our own lives long enough to think about it. TweenParent.com says it is some combination of the above and more.
We're All Busy!
The parallels with adult life are apparent. Compared with 1960, the average American family is working 160 hours more each year (that's an additional month of average work weeks each year). The result of spending less time at home is that some important family activities have been given less of a priority. In the last 20 years, family dinners have declined by 33% and family vacations have decreased by 28%.
Everyone Needs Balance!
One thing is certain. There's a great deal of debate over where to draw the line between a child being busy enough and being too busy. The balance that needs to be achieved will be different for every child on the basis of his/her academic needs, temperament, environment, and the family's needs.
Too Many Activities?
Some experts contend that children who are involved in a near constant flow of activities don't have the opportunity to learn to be at ease when they're alone. Having lived by activity schedules and often being around other people, they aren't able to learn the joy of solitude and they aren't given an opportunity to express creativity, daydream and self-reflect. More important, perhaps, they haven't realized the value of making time for fun. This, along with achievement pressure and a decrease in family time are the frequently cited issues.
Too Much Free Time?
On the flipside, Susan M. McHale, Ph.D., of Penn State led a study that monitored how fourth and fifth graders spent their free time. She found that devoting more free time to structured and supervised activities such as hobbies and sports appears to enhance a tween's academic, emotional and behavioral development at this age. Spending more time playing outdoors and hanging out, in contrast, appear to have a negative impact on development. Contrary to popular belief, recent research rejects the notion that most kids are over-scheduled and are suffering as a result.
For more information, including tips on balancing your child's schedule visit TweenParent.com.