The Time Crunch & Our Children
A
recent cartoon pictured two young girls
chatting and clutching personal planners while they were waiting for the school
bus. One of them suggested: "Okay, I’ll move ballet back an hour, reschedule
gymnastics, and cancel piano. You shift your violin lesson to Thursday and skip
piano. That gives us from 3:15-3:45 on Wednesday the 16th to play.”
While chuckling over that cartoon I
was reminded that I once calculated my boys’ obligations to their soccer teams. All three
of them participated on a city league team in the spring and again in the fall. Two of them played on a traveling team.
Adding up all the practices and games, those commitments totaled over 100 entries
on our family calendar! And our boys competed in other sports and had other
commitments. No wonder author and
educator Marie Winn has said that many children today look like tired
businessmen!
We parents must admit blame for allowing our kids to become overscheduled. We fill their lives to overflowing because we fear that we might be depriving them of something important: “Even though my son is playing tennis and soccer, I better sign him up for basketball. Who knows? He might be the next Steph Curry!”
But what do our children really need to grow up and become mature followers of Jesus?
Kids
need to learn how to . . .
·
care
for others
·
carry
responsibility
·
manage
money
·
interpret
their culture
·
build
a relationship with God
. . . and
much more.
So
if your daughter is playing on the school’s volleyball team, will her life be
stunted if she doesn’t join the dance team also? And for that matter, how will
adding dance help her prepare for adult life?
A
recent poll by KidsHealth found that over 40% of kids feel stressed most or all
of the time because they have “too much to do.” Let your children be children.
Give them time to play with their stuffed animals. To draw a picture. To hang
out with a friend. It is very important that children learn how to be alone, to
be quiet so they have time to rest, reflect, read. Your kids need a Guide
for Life, not a Recreation Director!
