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Are Your Kids Too Busy To Have Fun?

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The Washington Post

Published: October 7, 2008

Rushing from school to soccer practice to piano lessons to science club meetings is no new thing for many Bay area parents.

But there is a new wave of research that many might find surprising. Two studies into the lives of middle-class children buck conventional wisdom and conclude that they are not the overscheduled, frazzled generation that many believe them to be. In fact, it might be the parents who are overloaded, one researcher suggests.

The studies, based on data about how children spend their days, show that only a minority are heavily scheduled and that organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behavior.

The children most at risk have no activities at all, the studies showed.

THE NUMBERS

58% of children were considered to be in the best-off group, which employed a balanced approach of one or two activities, for less than four hours, over the two days tracked in the study

25% of children were considered highly involved and did almost as well in school and family life

17% of children had no activities and were more withdrawn and socially immature, with lower self-esteem

Source: "The Hurried Child: Myth vs. Reality"

ABOUT THE STUDIES

"The Hurried Child: Myth vs. Reality" included interviews with children ages 9 to 12 and parents as well as detailed time-use diaries from 331 youths from white middle- and upper-middle-class families across the nation.

The other study, led by Joseph Mahoney, then at Yale University, also used time-use data. It included 2,125 children ages 5 to 18.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We want to hear your take on filling up your children's schedules. Do you limit their extracurricular activities? Or do you think the more, the better?

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