Signs A Child Is Too Busy

Whether itâ€s after school sports or other extra-curricular activities, or holiday schedules, itâ€s easy to overbook children and teens at this time of year. All of the things your child participates in are important. So how do you know when youâ€ve passed the tipping point and your child is too busy?

Here are two signs that a child is too busy:

1) She is having trouble falling asleep at night. Kids who are rushed from one activity to another, who don’t have any down time, will often have trouble falling asleep at night because they can’t wind down. The go-go-go adrenalin and momentum makes it very hard for kids to slow down at bedtime, relax and fall asleep.

2) He is more easily emotionally upset than usual. Kids who don’t have down time do not have time to process their emotions. Whether consciously or not, we all use down-time to process our feelings about the dayâ€s experiences. This causes a build-up of emotional energy that needs an outlet. This would be similar to using colander to strain the water from your pasta, but didnâ€t clean it afterwards. After a few times, the strainer will get clogged and wonâ€t work as well. Our brains work in much the same way – including our kidsâ€. When kids don’t have time to process the events of their day – or their life – their emotions become clogged and things build up. This makes them more likely to throw temper tantrums, overreact to problems, cry over more simple things, etc.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes less is more! Especially when it comes to kids. So make sure that you aren’t overloading your kids!

Thanks to Jeremy G. Schneider for these great tips!  www.jgs.net