I Told You

A while ago I wrote that I thought kids had too much to do. I thought that we were over scheduling our kids and that they needed time to just play, do nothing, and be kids. Some people, "Wife" included, thought I was nuts. They said I was just lazy and that my attitude would ruin an entire generation, creating lay abouts and ne'er do wells. Kids need to have full schedules I was told, how else will they become solid citizens, great pianists or all star infielders? Despite the fact that I like having the power to ruin a generation, you were all wrong and I was right again. I stick my electronic tongue out at you and wag a finger in your general direction.

A survey came out the other day from KidsHealth, a division of a non-profit organization that studies kid's health issues. They polled 900 kids between the ages of 9 and 13, and the findings were astounding. More than forty percent of the kids surveyed said they feel stressed out most of the time or always. The kids said that the main reason was having too much to do. The most shocking part of the study was that over three quarters of the kids said they longed for more free time. Scary, huh? The article went on to say that stress can have severe consequences for kids ranging from loss of sleep to falling behind in school and burnout. I don't think that they meant the kind of burnout that wears corduroy pant, Frye boots and does bong hits.

Maybe now people will listen to me when I talk. All my ideas are not as hair brained as they're made out to be. I think it's time to lighten up on the kids a little. Just because the other kids are in a million activities doesn't mean your kid has to be. School should be the most important, and while I do believe that kids get a lot of benefits from extra curricular activities, I also think some down time is good. I don't think a kid needs to have multiple activities every day after school and then stuff scheduled for the weekend. How about being able to come home one day after school and just hang out with friends, read a non-school book, or veg out for a few minutes?

There will be plenty of time for our kids to join the rat race and spend the rest of their lives running to and from meetings, classes and everything else that adulthood brings. I know that the world we live in is very competitive and that the more we prepare our children the better off they will be, but is it so wrong to teach them that it's ok to relax once in a while? I don't think so. Later...Brian