Reply to What's wrong with a kid being "overscheduled"?

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "What's wrong with a kid being "overscheduled"?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]in my case I have 3 kids. Each kids is not overscheduled, they do 1-2 activities each but that’s about 5-6 activities I am driving them to. I am overscheduled, but each kid is not. They are of an age where I don’t have to take all of them with me all the time so they stay home and play with each other, do homework, whatever. But they aren’t available to run around the neighborhood or have playdates with other kids if I can’t be home or I can’t pick them up later due to a conflict. I don’t see any kids running around anyway in our neighborhood.  It’s the parents stretched thin in cases like mine.[/quote]

I think neighborhoods are different. I have friends who live walking distance to the school and they have impromptu play dates even though kids all do many activities. We used to live in a house where my son was in the same class and BFFs with the kids at the bus stop. They would play right after school and before sports or be on the same soccer or bade team and carpool.

We now live in an area where families are more affluent, attend different schools and not many young families because young families can’t afford to live here or would not pick this type of neighborhood as a starter home.

My friends who live in a townhouse hang out everyday at the local playground in their community.[/quote]

My kids are too old to hang out a playground after school. That all stopped after about 1st grade.[/quote]

Kids stop playing at the playground in first grade? [/quote]

Pretty much. Most people have more than 1 kid and all this works up until about that age. Then when you add in varying kids ages it all kind of fizzles. The older kid doesn’t want to play at the park, or there’s a toddler or new baby and it just doesn’t work out. This was a blip when my oldest was about that age when we had the time and inclination and then circumstances changed.[/quote]

Wow, that just seems so young.[/quote]

My third grader would not be excited to go to the playground. [/quote]

Idk, I guess i was way different than kids are today.[/quote]

Don’t worry in my neighborhood there are kids of all ages running happily at the playground. PP must live in some weird snobby area where kids are too cool for playgrounds.[/quote]

+1. We live in a great neighborhood where kids still ride bikes and visit local playgrounds well into middle school. By that age they are just "hanging out" and chatting, sometimes on a swing or whatever, but they still get lots of unstructured outside time. It's wonderful. The kids that are overscheduled usually have the crazy type A parent that put them in travel sports or violin or whatever at age 9. [/quote]

You think it is crazy to put your kid in violin at age 9? I don’t have a violin playing kid but my kid did start piano at age 5. My boys played travel sports at 9. They are out riding their bikes now at age 14.[/quote]

Music is often started at 5-8 and same with sports.  Mine started music around age 6 and club sports at I want to say 6 as well.  They stuck with both, though one is more prefered than another.  No regrets, all their choice.

There are benefits to both.

I'm not letting my kid ride a bike and run free every day all day.  I don't know any kids who go to playgrounds in middle school except those whose parents kick them out of the house to be selfish and pretend its good for them.  They end up over at a house like mine instead.  [/quote]

What do you mean by selfish parents? Or are you just assuming that all kids want to do activities?[/quote]

DP it cuts both ways. Do you assume all kids doing activities are forced by their evil parents?[/quote]

No, not all, but i do know some are. [b]I grew up with some of those kids.[/b] [/quote]

Me too. A few suffered injuries severe enough to end their sport. Lesson learned, do not put all your eggs in the sports basket.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics