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Overscheduling

by Randi

Why is it that parents are always overscheduling their children? I know of a woman who has her son (who is in elementary school) in every afterschool program available, keeping him busy until 5 p.m. every night, and then into Tae Kwon Do two nights a week. Her toddler is in daycare while she works, and then has a gymboree class on the nights that her brother doesn’t have Tae Kwon Do. These guys are constantly running around, Overscheduled.jpgand every time I talk to her older child he says how tired he is.

How come parents believe that their children have to have some activity to fill up their every waking moment? Children do not necessarily need something to do every day! They need quality time to spend with their parents, as well as with their siblings. Toddlers especially need a lot of sleep and a lot of cuddle time. If a toddler, or any child for that matter, spends too much time on other activities, they will be tired, cranky, and may have behavioral problems.

Is it alright to put your toddler in an activity or two? Absolutely - but if they have more activities scheduled than they do cuddle and chill-out time, you might want to rethink your schedule a bit.


Posted in Activities, Health, News, Parenting on February 24th, 2008

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Raising a toddler is one of the most rewarding experiences. We learn just how much love we have in the deepest recesses of our hearts and just how deep the well of our patience can go with only three hours of sleep. We learn to see the world from a new perspective and we delight in the very basic achievements of our children. Amid their tantrums and shouting "No!" toddlers help us to stretch our imaginations and rediscover the books we enjoyed when we were children. Rebecca will share stories of her own children as toddlers, review parenting and children's books and offer suggestions for everything from potty training to catching bugs with a straight face. She will share craft ideas, fun activities, how to form a playgroup, nutrition for toddlers, development, adding a new sibling, your toddler as the youngest child, adopting a toddler and more.

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