Is Your Child Overscheduled?

Jon Kabat-zinn Said "When You Pay Attention To Boredom It Gets Unbelievably Interesting." Alas, Today's Children Almost Never Get The Chance To Feel Bored, Because Parents Are Enrolling Them In A Laundry List Of Activities. Could All That Enrichment Be Depriving Them Of The Chance To Learn Some Of Life's Most Important Lessons?

- PRIYANKA ACHARYA

What classes are your kids doing?” is a question I receive regularly from fellow moms. Our school WhatsApp group pings away day after day with information about the wide range of classes and workshops available to kids: robotics, music, phonics, handwriting, crafts, chess, and Rubix cube coaching to name a few. The parents who ask me what I’ve chosen for my kids do so because they find their children have “too much” free time after school, and classes seem like the ideal way to fill that time.

Last academic year, I felt this way myself, and made the switch from keeping a relaxed schedule for my kids to having something for them to attend six days a week. By the end of the year, I felt as harried as the executive assistant of a high-flying CEO, spending a great deal of mental energy managing their timetables, setting alarms on my phone to remind them to log into online sessions, fielding messages from teachers who needed to cancel and reschedule, and finding time slots for these make-up classes.

But this column is not about the parent’s burden (I have already written one called “Dear Mom, Do Less” that addresses this matter!). It is about what we are depriving children of by scheduling them down to the minute: free play, boredom, and the wonderful things that can develop out of both.