Carrying on from the last post, I’ve stumbled upon the question – “Is Kid Burnout Possible?” Obviously the answer is yes, but perheps even more relevant is the question “Are Parents Knowingly Sending Their Kids To Burnout?”.
I had some drinks one evening with two good friends, all of which have kids roughly the same age of mine. Anyway, as these evenings go, the topic naturally went to our kids, mothering and other mom friends (does the last count as gossip?). Husbands were within earshot, so clearly that topic had to wait for another time.
But what I discovered was interesting. Most, if not all Moms with kids over 3 let their kids do at least 2 or 3 activities a week apart from school. In my case, my daughter has playgroup, football and now is dabbling with ice skating. One friend’s son goes to futsal (indoor football), swimming, and playgroup. Another friend’s daughter went to ballet, kumon and playgroup 3 x a week.
But to beat us all was another friend, who’s daughter did a “Leapfrog” class at Gymboree, ice skating, t-ball, ballet AND playgroup 3 x a week aside from full-time Kindergarten. Granted, her Mom is one you could clearly classify as a type “A” mom. Skinny and seemingly always stressed out, this Mom, bless her heart, runs several businesses and is also known to be a very caring “hands-on-type”. And I just cant help but wonder if this hectic schedule is too much for a 4-year-old??? I doubt my little girl could handle it – and she’s got masses of energy.
How much is too much? Does it depend on the child or the parent? Definitely something to chew on.
Originally posted on September 27, 2006 @ 12:44 am
