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5 Ways to Give
Your Time-Starved Kids (And You!) a Break
by Ruth Klein
With the end of the school year, many parents already are eagerly
signing their kids up for extracurricular activities without stopping
to ask if this is best for the health and well being of their children.
This year, give your time-starved kids and yourself a break.
If you don't have children at home, then think about this information
for yourself - while most organizations are xdarkx for the summer. Just
because you belonged to the group last year does not mean that you need
to belong to the same group this year - just a thought!!
A new poll by the National Association of Health Education Centers and
its federal and university partners reports that 77 percent of kids
ages 9 to 13 wish they had more free time. The trademarked
KidsHealth
KidsPoll also reports that having too much to do was leaving a
substantial 41 percent of children surveyed feeling
stressed most of
the time or always.
Allowing children to skip after-school and weekend activities to spend
more time in
front of a computer, playing video games or watching TV just for fun
isnxt the answer, either. These kids were nearly three times more
likely to want free time than those who spend less than an hour in
front of computers, video games or television sets, according to the
poll.
Are your kids pressuring you to sign them up for extracurricular
activities because they feel peer pressure? Are you driving your
children from one activity to the next because you want to offer all
those extras that other parents (your peers) are providing to their
children?
Children of every age who are trying to cope with self-imposed or
parent-imposed schedules that donxt allow them the free time they want
can produce chronic fatigue, sour moods and poor eating and sleeping
habits that will set them up for high blood pressure, heart disease,
depression, obesity and other stress-induced conditions as adults.
- 5 Ways To Give Your Time-Starved Kids A Break:
One: Give Yourself a Break. Kids learn by example. If youxre
over-stressed from too much work and too many responsibilities, start
by achieving a better balance between your job and home life. Exercise,
eat well, get plenty of sleep and allow yourself free time.
Two: Become a De-Stress Role Model. If you are rushing from work to
home to drop-off and pick-up duties for your children without quality
time for your family, you are a poor role model. If the health and well
being of your kids is important to you, prove it by scheduling quality
time for your kids each day.
Three: Listen to Your Kids. Forcing children to take extracurricular
classes or participate in sports can backfire if they donxt want to
become involved. If they are complaining about their hectic days and
not showing up for activities you scheduled for them, pay attention to
these important signs of stress.
Four: Involve Your Children In De-Stress Decisions. Let your kids play
an active role in determining how to set priorities for what they want
to do, incorporating what they reasonably can accomplish. Sit down
together and write xprox and xconx lists for each activity. Allow
yourself to admit that you, too, can fall victim to peer pressure,
inspiring them to admit when they are letting their peers push them
into activities.
Five: Enforce Stress-Free Time. Unplug yourself and your kids from
computers, cell phones, video games and TV for specified times each day
to do nothing in particular. Read, walk, write, play. Free time allows
you to become more creative, and also to refresh and re-energize your
mind and body for the next day.
About the Author
Marketing Strategist and Productivity Coach, Speaker and Author, Ruth
Klein, is the owner of the award-winning boutique firm, The
Marketing/Time Source.
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