Can you have your child enrolled in too many activities?

1. 69

   KellyG05030posted 11 years ago

   Can you have your child enrolled in too many activities?
   
   I'm a strong believer in helping your kids succeed but also in letting kids be kids at the same time.  I see some parents that keep their children running from extracurricular activities from the time school ends each day until 8pm each night, at least 3 school nights a week.  With the amount of homework they have some nights, my kids would be up all night.  Am I the only one that thinks our children need a break too?

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2. 70

   The Unlearnerposted 11 years ago

   My friend has a 4 year old that has homework, and now she does all sorts of classes after school. My view is that too much pressure is put on children already in school, if they really enjoy something- then great!
   
   My girls don't go to school, so this is all something quite alien to me, but I do remember the stress that I was under from my school days. Kids need to have fun in their childhood, and YES, they need a break too.

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3. 0

   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   Yes. They can become tired and start lacking in school work, etc. if they have too many activities going on. They are young, but still tire.

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4. 83

   peachpurpleposted 11 years ago

   no, i had seen my sister in law who gives 7 days activities to her children who aren't interested in the activities; piano lessons, ballet dance, etc. They end up wasting her money and didn't finish the courses either. Best part is, they don't make a good use of the lessons that they had learnt,

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5. 59

   KayceeLposted 6 years ago

   Yes. Especially if they are forced to only do certain activities the child had no say or opinion on. It's especially horrific when a non biological adult/parent signs child up for activity without input from the child and actual parents. More and more I see children under the age of 12 who look consistently drained of energy and mind. One to two (3 at most depending on activity) is sufficient while in school other than college AND only when/if the child wants certain activity. If they love music, then let the child try out 1-2 instruments separately until child finds which instrument they love or until they say (give a deadline so as to not waste tons of money in the near future) mom music isn't my thinks.
   Having only 1 or 2 activities isn't going to make a child grow up to be irresponsible or a criminal. Having child do more than 2-3 activities, especially ones where they had no say, will only cause indecisive adults and more often than not cause the parent child relationship to falter from good to almost non existent in the future.

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