John Cowan - Busy Kids

Busy kids do better than kids with too little to do, especially if they get in volved in things that where they are developing skills and mixing with positive peers and good adult role models. Early experience in a wide range of activities helps identifies where a child is gifted and perhaps areas that need extra attention.

Younger kids may need to be nudged into things because of natural timidity;young teenagers may need our knee pushing them in the base of their spine because they fear that what they do  might be considered ‘uncool’ by their peers

But some kids can get too busy, sometimes because of parental pressure. Parents sometimes have ‘super-child’ dreams – they want to hot-house multi-talented super-achievers – and part of that motivation may be to experience vicarious success through their children.  Other times it might be because the kids themselves  are just keen to do everything and just over extend themselves.

When the pressure comes from the parents,  they become stressed, learn to dislike the activities they are being pressured into, and become passive aggressive: pretending to be involved but really sabotaging thing by being to slow, forgetting things and just failing to try.

For those kids who are super keen and want to do too many things – a good line is “I want you to do as a much as you wan to do, but if we notice you aren’t coping (getting sick, marks dropping) you have to decide which activity you are going to drop.”

Remember, a good childhood and a balanced education also involves plenty of ‘down time’; they also need unstructured play to socialize, develop creativity and a wide range of ‘non-curricular’ skills.

For more check out theparentinglace.com.