Health

Lots of activities and little time to switch off: over-scheduling kids can come at a cost

There is a lot to be said for signing children up to activities and nurturing things they are good at or that they have an interest in. It can be a great outlet for children to express themselves, get to know other children, and also to have fun. However, the problem arises when the extent to which children are scheduled for activities starts to tip the balance from being beneficial and fun to all-consuming and overwhelming.

By conditioning children from childhood to always be striving, to always be busy, we have to be careful as to what we are ingraining into the youngsters of today Unstructured free-play is extremely essential for the healthy development of a child (Getty Images) There is a lot to be said for signing children up to activities and nurturing things they are good at or that they have an interest in. It can be a great outlet for children to express themselves, get to know other children, and also to have fun. However, the problem arises when the extent to which children are scheduled for activities starts to tip the balance from being beneficial and fun to all-consuming and overwhelming.

An overload of activities.