Thursday 10 October 2013

Are children today overburdened with activities? Lawrence School



“What is this life, if full of care, we have to time to stand and stare..”  These famous lines of W.H. Davies holds true for most adults in today’s time where everything is paced at a break-neck speed and the number of activities outdo the time we have on our hands. However, the unfortunate part is that this is also fast becoming a reality for many children.

With competition closing in from all quarters, children these days are not only expected to excel in studies but also bring in trophies and accolades in myriad other spheres of life ranging from drawing, sports to public speaking and management skills.

It is common practice amongst parents to compare the busyness quotient of their children’s lives and use it as a sort of scoring point at social gatherings. It is degrading to admit that the child doesn’t attend any “classes” of sorts and spends time at home instead. How unfortunate then for these kids who perhaps will never realize the importance and joy of playing silly, or doing nothing!

Children need as much unstructured time as structured to enhance their thinking and growing. A lot of activities that seem like a waste of time are actually instrumental in unleashing their creativity and undiscovered talent. We as adults love the tag of “being busy” and try to fill in all our waking hours with “doing something”. As a natural progression, this attitude gets shifted to our parenting style and towards our children.

Rushing from one class to another hardly leaves any time for kids to think constructively. While it is true that extra-curricular activities are needed to give a well-rounded personality, an over-dose of such “classes” might actually rob the child of any genuine interest. There is a fine balance that needs to be maintained between nudging and pushing. Nudging a child into pursuing hobby classes is needed but pushing a child into cramming every possible extra skill in their free-time is a huge no-no.

Lawrence High School, located at HSR layout, Bangalore, focuses on educating children with traditional values to adapt and excel in the world. To know more about Lawrence school, please visit the website http://lawrenceschool.in/ and join us at our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lawrence-School/ 

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