Firstly, what is over-scheduling? Does it really affect children in a negative way?  Over-Scheduling is when people schedule their children with things to do every minute every second.  It’ll give a minimum amount of time for them to do their homework.

However, even if this might sound quite negative at first, lets compare the pros and cons of  it.  You might even feel depressed, or under stress,however, those stressful times, teaches you HOW to deal with stress. In reality, over scheduling does not affect children in a negative way.

If you, as a child have not been through stress or difficult situations, then you will suffer much greater consequences in the “real world”,also known as teh life you will encounter later on in life. In the future, you’ll need to be able to deal with all the stress and the complications thrown at you.  Many say that if you are not stressed when you are a child and do not have experience, you may suffer depression when you are older, and that it may lead to worse happenings. If you are suffering depression now, it is a good way to learn the ins and outs of life.  During school you can ask a counselor to help bring things into perspective.  It is a good thing, your counselor can’t stop your over-scheduling problems, because it can teach you that not everything can be taken away in a blink, and that you really need to deal with things by yourself.  Just because you go to the counselor doesn’t mean that your worries will be gone, they are still there, your counselor is only there to sort out your thoughts and filter them, as for your worries, you have to conquer them yourselves. Most people have different ways of taking control of their stress or depression.  First you need to think through your problem is it REALLY a big deal? Will it affect you 20 years later?  Is it a real problem that you might face yet again 20 years later? If not, then just sort it out and get over with it.  Most children get stressed because they don’t WANT to do something their parents have planned.  Such as swimming, chinese class, writing classes, or instrument lessons.  These people are quite ignorant because you really don’t understand that your parents are doing something to HELP you not destroy you, these classes or lessons will teach you not only new knowledge but will also build you up emotionally.  As a summary, if you face stress and depression as a child, it is not a bad thing but a good thing  because you will learn how to deal with stress and bounce back and show resilience.  These activities help you prepare for the bigger problems in the future that you will go through.  This is just one of the reasons why over scheduling is NOT a bad thing and can even HELP you.

Other than feeling “stressed”, children also say that they are losing their childhood, but is that really true?  What IS childhood really? Is it having fun all day long? Video games? Letting yourself do EVERYTHING you want?  Childhood is basically the period you go through when you are young and still immature, and developing your brains,  during this long period of time, if you play and have fun all day, you definitely will not develop your brain in a good way.  If you develop a routine of getting everything you want and being undisciplined, then that foundation will stick with you all your life and if you do not understand that what parents do for you is the best, and that those extracurricular classes are for your best, and that you can’t always have EVERYTHING your way, you will probably become a very undisciplined, not smart and ignorant human being.  By the fact that your parents force you to go to as many classes and lessons as possible, it is molding you into a person that is very easy going and able to go through hard times.  Childhood is the time that your innermost personality forms, and by getting everything you want, it is very likely that as you age you will become a very stubborn person.  If you don’t get everything you want and understand how to handle stress, it is very likely that you will become a very easy going and hardworking person.  Children these days always look at things in a very negative way.   When children are taking their classes they often think that their childhood is ruined and that there is no fun in whatever that are doing, and that extracurricular activities are bad and taking their childhood away because it is wasting their time but, you can always look at things in a positive way, maybe you can play a game while you are taking chinese such as trying to race with the time.  It isn’t always as bad as many people think it is and it even helps people when they are older and going through rather stressful times it teaches them to make things happy and lively so that they won’t go through depression or stress.  So really, extracurricular activities aren’t really taking away your childhood or any time because you are at the same time having fun and being a kid, it is also building up your developing brain.

Another part of childhood children think they are losing is their social time with friends, however that is not true at all.  During school children are free during break to have fun with friends or maybe when you have classes you can communicate with your friends and talk to them while you are sharing your work.The last part of childhood children think they are losing is their physical and mental freedom to speak and to act.  Even if you don’t get a say in some things, it does not mean you don’t have a say in other things.  For example, only 18 and above are allowed to vote, and have a say in what they want to say, why don’t younger children do? The answer is easy, younger children are not responsible enough and don’t know as much as older people do.  Same with this situation of “over scheduling”, parents don’t give you a chance to protest on extracurricular activities for a reason, and that reason is that they care for you and they love you and want you to let your inner capabilities shine out of you.  Even if you do not get a say in your extracurricular activities, you can most definitely tell others what you think on other subjects.  Imagine if EVERYONE had their say and nobody would listen to each other’s commands including their own parent’s suggestions.  The world would wind up in chaos this act of listening to what their parents say encourage a child to be more obedient and easy going now and in the future.  By not letting you have as much time and giving you some more work to do than your other classmates are prohibiting you from playing but it opens another path for you because it gives many other paths and choices in life.

Other than that, children think that parents are not giving them chances to do anything you want to do in the future, however they are. By letting you go to these extra curricular classes, they are introducing you to many new skills.  lets just say that you want to be a news reporter when you are older but, your mom or dad is forcing you to take those Chinese classes, even if you feel that Chinese has nothing to do with news reporting, it is very still important you take those lessons because what if you were to take an interview from a native Chinese person? Wouldn’t you regret that you didn’t take those Chinese lessons? Or what if your parents are forcing you to take swimming classes and you absolutely despise it and want to quit because you see no purpose in it? You better think through that again because studies show that it is much more likely for a student that participates in a sport to get into a good collage compared to a student that does not participate in a sport.  Some others think that learning a musical instrument is useless, but yet again studies show that if you learn a musical instrument people typically have better memory skills than those who do not learn an instrument.  Plus children who do learn an instrument or have musical skills usually have and increased academic performance, ability to think creatively, and better emotional expressions and  understandings.  Even if the extracurricular activity has NOTHING to do with what you want to be when  you are older, you might change your mind, and also, these activities might as well lead to new hobbies and direct you in a better way of living.  For example, essay writing classes may seem useless at first but it can be a contributor to your job in the future such as a newspaper editor, fashion magazine writer, or maybe even a lawyer.   Parents spend their money on you so that you can discover new things and so that you can open new doors to new findings.  Parents are not shutting the door to a future but are opening a thousand more to better ones.

In conclusion, over scheduling does not harm you in fact it prepares you for the “real world” and teaches you how to handle stress and depression.  Also, it does not ruin your childhood in anyway, in fact, it enriches it in many diverse ways.  Lastly, parents do not only limit you to these activities because they want to keep you away from the outer world, infact they are opening new doors to new things.  You only get to go through childhood one time.  You can only develop your brain once.  Use this time wisely.