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0317 MARCH
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a s the spring season gets underway, activity overload for
kids
has become the norm.
children
are finding themselves adrift amidst a non-stop whirlwind of little league baseball, spring soccer, swim teams and all sorts of lessons. by the time the chocolate easter bunny begins melting,
children
find themselves feeling similarly wasted away. not only do parents witness signs of burnout, but they also increasingly find themselves dealing with protest shouts of, ?i
quit
!? many
kids
start activities as young as age four, and eight years later many have completely burned out. by pushing
children
into organized sports or lessons too soon, parents run the risk of injury, burnout, or turning
children
off altogether to a hobby. seventy percent of
kids
who sign up each year for youth soccer, baseball, football, hockey, and other competitive sports
quit
by age 13, never to return to them. ?e number one reason
children
cite for
quit
ting? it stopped being fun. i call it the ?activity mania? of today?s childhood, and the stress goes hand in hand with it.
children
?s busy schedules have spun out of control. now, we have toddler pre-curricular activities from tumbling and music to swimming and spanish. by the time a child reaches kindergarten, she may play a sport, dabble in the arts, speak a little spanish, and feel pressured to add a second dance lesson each week if she wants to compete. free time usually has to be penciled into the family calendar, and when a break in the action finally comes, most
kids
dive in front of the tv or tablet to console themselves in a desperate retreat to the ?electronic playground.? you, as the parents, deal with distraught
children
who come home complaining about bad coaches, bench-warming frustration, activity overload, and lack of fun. deciding when to ask a child to stick it out and when to allow him to
quit
is a difficult issue. sign me up! by stacy debroff i
quit
78 brparents.com | march 2017
child-activity-make-79.html