Today's Kids May Be Too Overscheduled to Act Like Children

Nov. 8, 2009— -- Three-year-old Gaby Goldberg loves soccer. Every Saturday morning, her mom Jeanne Goldberg takes her for a 45-minute session of soccer practice and a game. But soccer season will be over soon. What's next? Ice skating lessons. Besides sports on the weekends, Gaby also goes to school during the week.

"Gaby goes to preschool from nine to noon Monday through Friday except for Tuesday, she goes from nine to one. She also has cooking class on Tuesdays, gymnastics on Wednesdays and dance on Fridays. Right now, she's playing soccer," said Goldberg.

She explained even though Gaby is just 3, she needs be be exposed to a lot of different activities in order to see, experience and figure out what types of things she likes doing so she can narrow them down later. The little girl's energetic nature was detected early by her mom.

"She likes to keep busy. She hasn't napped since she was 22 months old. She likes to keep up with her big sisters!" Goldberg said. Gaby's 6-year-old twin sisters Julia and Sophie have kindergarten six hours a day, five days a week, plus an hour of soccer, dance, gymnastics and religious instruction every week.

Studies show that children's free time has dropped by 12 hours a week over the past two decades. Play time is down three hours a week, and unstructured outdoor activities like walking and hiking are down 50 percent.

Is a busy schedule so bad for kids? Well, not necessarily. A University of Maryland study found that a loaded schedule doesn't cause extra stress for children. In fact, very active children tend to thrive emotionally. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics warns many kids are scheduled these days and need more down time .

Author Stacy Debroff points out that parents today are raising kids in a child-centered culture. They care about them being successful, and they want their kids to have friends and skills. Some experts believe kids can develop a specialty in many sports, arts or languages between the ages of 3 and 6 years old.

"If you bring a child who's 6- or 7-years-old to the soccer field for the first time or gymnastics, there are kids who have already way excelled them in terms of skills, and they can't catch up!" Debroff argued. "When we were growing up, and we were kicked outside to play, and you went from house to house. Now, kids are being driven from activity to activity. The kids next door aren't around to play because they're off at gymnastics or starting soccer leagues."