Youth sports and over scheduling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we all being honest about what teen boys do with unsupervised free time? Best case, my 13 year old is gaming.

Some kids aren't though. And it's pretty easy to control that. Imo, 13 years still need to be playing outsude with other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its all a race to nowhere.

This 🥴

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may be hard to define overscheduling, but no one can really give an answer as to why kids being so busy is a good thing

Of course they have. Their kids like it and ask for it. They like playing sports, they like playing a musical instrument or playing chess or camping with the scouts. They like doing all of these things. You might not find that answer good enough, but people were explaining why their kids schedules were busy on the first page.

[Anonymous]

No one here has said that activities are, just don't overschedule. And I'm seeing alot of "but my kids wants, it likes it." That doesn't mean you have to allow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its all a race to nowhere.

This 🥴

Is it though? If the point isn't actually elite college admissions but just learning athletic and life skills, as well as having fun, why not?

Prove the free time lost is worth more than the other things gained. I don't think in every case, categorically you can. Sometimes? Sure. Always? I highly doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we all being honest about what teen boys do with unsupervised free time? Best case, my 13 year old is gaming.

Alot of parents are adamant about their kids play organized sports and activities that they'll require it. But, not just plain old playing outside? I don't get it, I'd require my kids to play outside if I'd have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its all a race to nowhere.

This 🥴

It's more about the process imo

[Anonymous]

It's just so easy to end up in the over scheduled bucket. I have a 10 yo who did spring rec soccer, as well as girl scouts and piano. It's a pretty modest list of activities for this area. But this time of year is positively nuts. Summer swim has started before rec soccer has ended, plus there's 5th grade promotion events, girl scout bridging, and a piano recital, all in the next two weeks. It's bonkers, and she's not even doing a travel sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we all being honest about what teen boys do with unsupervised free time? Best case, my 13 year old is gaming.

Alot of parents are adamant about their kids play organized sports and activities that they'll require it. But, not just plain old playing outside? I don't get it, I'd require my kids to play outside if I'd have to.

Fine, my kid plays outside and likes to. But he doesn't have any siblings and everyone else is busy. Playgrounds are fine, but at this age you're not really meeting random kids and playing with them on the slide. So... he can play basketball outside by himself every day or he can join a team and go to practice and play games against other kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don't really see kids these days having much different schedules then my friends and I had in the Midwest in the 80s. Year round swim team from a young age, plus several other sports depending on the season or age, an instrument, etc.

I'm in the Midwest and that is what people do today. Competitive swim or hockey/baseball, plus another sport or two each season. Some do an instrument, but nobody calls out families for overdoing sports. Only if the kid is taking an instrument or doing academic enrichment is he "over scheduled." Meanwhile I'm side eying the elementary kid who can't make half his practices due to his "main sport", and when he shows up to games and practices he's a tired mess.

DP, but I do find it interesting that this thread is in the sports forum, but the one study mentioned in the article is about everything kids do after school, including homework. It also found the effects strongest in high school, not younger. It feels like kind of the reverse of your situation (probably cultural in different regions), but I see a lot more overscheduling discourse here around the problems elementary schoolers in travel sports and not high schoolers with too much homework.

(I have neither a high schooler nor a kid in travel sports, so I'm not coming at this from either angle personally)

Kids at every age need and should have free time, they deserve it . I understand wanting to keep high school aged teens out if trouble, and some business is good, but overscheduling is never good.

I don't think I know a single competitive college bound high schooler who isn't overscheduled by those definitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really see kids these days having much different schedules then my friends and I had in the Midwest in the 80s. Year round swim team from a young age, plus several other sports depending on the season or age, an instrument, etc.

I'm in the Midwest and that is what people do today. Competitive swim or hockey/baseball, plus another sport or two each season. Some do an instrument, but nobody calls out families for overdoing sports. Only if the kid is taking an instrument or doing academic enrichment is he "over scheduled." Meanwhile I'm side eying the elementary kid who can't make half his practices due to his "main sport", and when he shows up to games and practices he's a tired mess.

DP, but I do find it interesting that this thread is in the sports forum, but the one study mentioned in the article is about everything kids do after school, including homework. It also found the effects strongest in high school, not younger. It feels like kind of the reverse of your situation (probably cultural in different regions), but I see a lot more overscheduling discourse here around the problems elementary schoolers in travel sports and not high schoolers with too much homework.

(I have neither a high schooler nor a kid in travel sports, so I'm not coming at this from either angle personally)

Kids at every age need and should have free time, they deserve it . I understand wanting to keep high school aged teens out if trouble, and some business is good, but overscheduling is never good.

I don't think I know a single competitive college bound high schooler who isn't overscheduled by those definitions.

You don't know a college bound high schooler who can't scrape together several hours of hangout time with friends every week? Really?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Alot of parents just don't want to admit that overscheduling exists or how bad it is for kids

Citation?

Why do you need a citation? You can't see why overscheduling is a bad thing?

No I can’t see why Katie Ledeky’s schedule is a bad thing.

She didn't get to have a childhood. I don't believe in kids having careers.

So you are against kids pursuing their passions if at that level? What is the right amount?

Yes, I'm against kids doing activities at extremely high levels. I'd never let my kid do that.

So we should get rid of the Olympics because it’s unhealthy for children.

lol, what is going on with you?

No I didn't say that. It's not something I'd let my own kids do. Other can do what they want. And I never said all kids are forced, but some are.

OK, then create a thread about kids force to do things. I don’t wanna do like study for the SAT use hours on end.

This threat is about people who are jealous of other peoples successes and need to label it as overscheduled feel better about themselves

No this is a thread about overscheduling kids/teens, which is a real thing and a problem.

We're somewhere in the middle, thankfully. Each of our kids plays one sport at a moderate level, plus at least one non-sport activity. We try and leave our weekends mostly free to go the pool and do other things.

Some of our friends are spending every weekend traveling to tournaments all over the place. And they're constantly complaining about it. I'm not really sure what the point is of much of the craziness around sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I don't really see kids these days having much different schedules then my friends and I had in the Midwest in the 80s. Year round swim team from a young age, plus several other sports depending on the season or age, an instrument, etc.

I'm in the Midwest and that is what people do today. Competitive swim or hockey/baseball, plus another sport or two each season. Some do an instrument, but nobody calls out families for overdoing sports. Only if the kid is taking an instrument or doing academic enrichment is he "over scheduled." Meanwhile I'm side eying the elementary kid who can't make half his practices due to his "main sport", and when he shows up to games and practices he's a tired mess.

DP, but I do find it interesting that this thread is in the sports forum, but the one study mentioned in the article is about everything kids do after school, including homework. It also found the effects strongest in high school, not younger. It feels like kind of the reverse of your situation (probably cultural in different regions), but I see a lot more overscheduling discourse here around the problems elementary schoolers in travel sports and not high schoolers with too much homework.

(I have neither a high schooler nor a kid in travel sports, so I'm not coming at this from either angle personally)

Kids at every age need and should have free time, they deserve it . I understand wanting to keep high school aged teens out if trouble, and some business is good, but overscheduling is never good.

I don't think I know a single competitive college bound high schooler who isn't overscheduled by those definitions.

You don't know a college bound high schooler who can't scrape together several hours of hangout time with friends every week? Really?

Not in this day in age anyway. When I was in HS yes, but weren't as busy or had as much homework. And I find it hard to believe that ppl haven't met overscheduled kids who were forced to do activities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one here has said that activities are, just don't overschedule. And I'm seeing alot of "but my kids wants, it likes it." That doesn't mean you have to allow it.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't allow it either. It just gets you back to the circular conversation of "what is overscheduled." I don't think anyone here is saying "my kid has too many activities and I allow it because I can't say no." They're saying "my kid does what might seem like a lot to other people, but they're happy so I allow it." Is that kid overscheduled? I have no idea, and neither do you.

My seven year old has 5ish hours of organized activities a week. Is that too much? If I list it all out (tennis, instrument, scouts) it sounds like a lot, but she's getting enough sleep and spending the other hours she's not at school in free play/reading/running around the neighborhood, so I don't say no. That's not the same allowing it simply because my kid wants it, it's making an informed decision on a difficult question where kids have different preferences and the optimal course is hard to discern. That's what all of us, whether or kids are busy every night of the week or never, are trying to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really see kids these days having much different schedules then my friends and I had in the Midwest in the 80s. Year round swim team from a young age, plus several other sports depending on the season or age, an instrument, etc.

I'm in the Midwest and that is what people do today. Competitive swim or hockey/baseball, plus another sport or two each season. Some do an instrument, but nobody calls out families for overdoing sports. Only if the kid is taking an instrument or doing academic enrichment is he "over scheduled." Meanwhile I'm side eying the elementary kid who can't make half his practices due to his "main sport", and when he shows up to games and practices he's a tired mess.

DP, but I do find it interesting that this thread is in the sports forum, but the one study mentioned in the article is about everything kids do after school, including homework. It also found the effects strongest in high school, not younger. It feels like kind of the reverse of your situation (probably cultural in different regions), but I see a lot more overscheduling discourse here around the problems elementary schoolers in travel sports and not high schoolers with too much homework.

(I have neither a high schooler nor a kid in travel sports, so I'm not coming at this from either angle personally)

Kids at every age need and should have free time, they deserve it . I understand wanting to keep high school aged teens out if trouble, and some business is good, but overscheduling is never good.

I don't think I know a single competitive college bound high schooler who isn't overscheduled by those definitions.

You don't know a college bound high schooler who can't scrape together several hours of hangout time with friends every week? Really?

Not in this day in age anyway. When I was in HS yes, but weren't as busy or had as much homework. And I find it hard to believe that ppl haven't met overscheduled kids who were forced to do activities

I find it hard to believe that kids don't have free time. How much of that is because they're scrolling TikTok while they're supposed to be doing homework? When I was in HS it was just IM-ing other kids instead of doing our work, but same idea. I don't buy that kids have more homework now than they did decades ago, given the insane amount of griping about teachers giving less and less homework in the press and on here.