How to tell if you are overscheduling your child

We all want our children to experience as many great opportunities as possible. However, sometimes we find our child overscheduled (through no fault of our own).

Here are some signs that your child may be overscheduled.

1. Not enough time to complete homework or projects.

2. Not enough time to have a healthy dinner, instead dinners are spent in the car going to the next activity.

3. If they are on several teams at the same time, the games or practices may conflict with each other. When you sign up to be on a team, you are also signing up to being committed to the team. If you are missing most or all of the practices and or games, then you may need to evaluate how important each team is to you.

4. If your childs' grades are slipping or he/she is have trouble in school and keeping up, then again, its time to evaluate priorities.

5. If your child is having to stay up late at night to finish homework or projects, then take a look at the schedule.

6. Put yourself in your childs' shoes. You work all day and then you come home. Would you want 3 or 4 more activities after you come home? Probably not.

7. It is important that children have some unscheduled time. If they are constantly scheduled with an activity, as an adult they will not develop spontaneity. They will lose the skill to learn how to relax and reflect on their life.