Kids need downtime,too
Soccer practice. Dance lessons. Second jobs. And hours of homework each night.
They're all important for kids as they learn the importance of team work, a strong work ethic and personal achievement. But it's also important to have time to just sit back and relax, said local child experts.
"I think we all need to rejuvenate from stress," said David Palmiter Jr., professor of psychology and counseling at Marywood University. "We all need to be psychologically fed. When we're not fed, we start to break."
Palmiter said children have three core needs: physical activity, sleep and a healthy diet. After that, academic and social skills are of the next highest importance. Palmiter said activities should be a way of helping children reach those goals and needs. But when students' extracurriculars cut into their sleep and social time or simply create too much pressure, those activities may be doing more harm than good.
Kingston psychologist Robert Kammen said a child's schedule should have a healthy balance.
"(Children and teens) absolutely should participate in some structured activities," Kammen said. "(But when they overly) focus on high achievements, preparing to get into a good college or getting a scholarship, there's a lot of pressures in all those and not time to interact with each other without those pressures."
That isn't to say there's a "magic number" of activities in which children should be required to participate. Palmiter said that number varies with each child and his or her individual personality.
"If I have a kid who has every minute scheduled, but they're enjoying it (and) they're social skills are good... I'd say let's not mess with that if everything's OK," Palmiter said. "I only start questioning methods when they're not working."
Kammen said even gifted adolescents - math whizzes, star quarterbacks, prodigy pianists - need to participate in other activities and simply take time off every once in a while.
"What happens if their identity is 100 percent invested in one activity?" Kammen said. "The idea is that you want to prepare people for adulthood, and it shouldn't revolve around a sport or a career. You've got to balance family and a lot of other things in there."
Palmiter also said parents should be mindful of how much time their children spend on homework. While he stressed academic achievement, he said some schools assign so much work that it interferes with other aspects of the student's life.
Joe Polizzi, an associate professor of education at Marywood University, said homework time generally should not exceed this formula: Ten minutes multiplied by the student's grade level.
"It also depends on the goals and outcomes for each kid," Polizzi said. "Some kids have more resources to complete homework."
Palmiter said the type of "free time" a child needs will vary. Some actually relax when participating in a structured activity.
"Some kids experience that rejuvenation playing basketball after school, where with some kids, that (activity) may be under the 'stress column' and they need time to do something else to relax."
Jim Jacobs, who works with middle and high school students for the Children's Service Center of Wilkes-Barre, said parents should encourage physical activity, but limited amounts of video games and Internet surfing are perfectly healthy.
But no matter what children enjoy, Palmiter said they need regular amounts of quality time with their parents.
"I call it 'special time,'" Palmiter said. "It goes to the strength of that relationship. You want at least a hour a week of one-on-one time."