Many times parents feel the need to force their kids into numerous extracurriculars and activities at a young age. This can overwhelm kids and not allow them to explore their environment on their own time and not allow them to discover themselves. This is common in American culture, where parents always feel the need for their kids to be in every possible opportunity that arises. This is rooted in parents wanting to ensure that their kids get ahead of the other kids from the very beginning. While there is nothing innately wrong with this, a kid’s independent growth and even sometimes happiness is sacrificed as a result. This is also not to say that a kid should be in no extracurricular activities or activities. But, there should be a balance met between extracurricular and free time.

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Generally people get less and less free time as they age due to more challenging schooling, work and making a family. Childhood should be a time for freedom and joy, not strict scheduling and constant extracurriculars. Adulthood is where more strict schedules are needed to accommodate the many new responsibilities that a person must fulfill. Often, this disparity is not so different at a young age due to parents over scheduling and overworking their child.

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In American schools, kids have set recess times (if the school hasn’t cut it from their budget already) and that’s it. In European schools, they sometimes have entire days dedicated to outdoor exploration and growth. The difference here is that American culture overloads their children with busy work which causes them to get antsy. This is not a good idea, as kids generally have low attention spans. The European method allows kids to grow independently and collaboratively with other students. They can explore the forests around them, climb trees, play with and analyze rocks, and many other ways to interact with the environment. This is also an effective method of exercise as well, if not better.  It caters to the kids’ low attention span, as they are free to do as they please and won’t get bored of any one task.

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I’m not saying that American schools must adopt the schooling system of Europe, but I think their mindset for schooling fundamentally puts kids growth and wellbeing first. Parents should really attune to their child’s feelings and see what path they want to take, opposed to pulling them in many different directions. Sometimes we really just need to let kids be kids.