by Michelle Jones
After observing other families rushing to take their children from one activity to the other and the stressed look on the children's faces (and their parents), my husband and I agreed early on that we would never push our children to do too much and that each child could participate in one extra activity at a time. This was before we even had our own children.
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I can safely say it was a good thing that we figured this out early. We eventually ended up having 4 children and soon found that even with just one activity per child our family would always be rushing from one place to the other. Especially when you include school, church, and general play time.
There are many things to consider when filling up one's schedule with extra activities (both for children and parents), but one of them is the family budget. I've even known a few parents that were working extra jobs just so their kids could have multiple activities that completely fill their time.
What about quality family time? Children really do grow up so fast. Wouldn't it be better to give them our own free time instead of rushing them off from one activity to another?
Though it's sometimes difficult to choose which (one) activity each child wants to do in the coming year, I hope when our children grow up they will look back and see that we always tried to help them find what they loved to do the most and then gave them our full support.
I hope you will find the following article informative and inspiring, I certainly did!
Read Overscheduled "Super Kids"
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Copyright © 2004 by Michelle Jones. All rights reserved.
