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Are kids really overscheduled?

by Roger Sinasohn (Subscribe to Roger Sinasohn's posts)
Jan 22nd 2007 2:30PM

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Filed under: Development/Milestones: Babies

Jared and Sara both take swim lessons and acrobatics/gymnastics classes. We volunteer at a nursing home once a week for a couple of hours in the evening. Jared also takes taekwondo. We want to sign them both up for tap dance lessons (it runs in the family) and eventually, they'll want lessons on an instrument (Jared wants to learn either the banjo or the string bass). That seems like a lot. But is it too much?

According to this Time article, all these changes -- more structured activities, more gadgets, more and tougher schoolwork -- that supposedly ruin our children really aren't so bad after all. Teen pregnancy, drug use, and suicide rates have dropped even as SAT scores have improved. So, the article argues, perhaps it is not the kids who need more of a break, but the parents. Is it possible? Are the real victims of overscheduling we the parents?

Tags: activities, classes, extracurricular, lessons, outside, schedule

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