During the summer of 2024, my wife and I packed the kids’ schedules with camps, trips to visit out-of-state family, and sports clinics. To the point that, as the summer wound down, we found ourselves feeling in need of another break before school started. It managed to take some of the fun out of summer break, as we were all “on” the whole time. Almost like being in school with daily prep for the day’s activity and evening chores to keep everything on track. To be clear, surf camps at the beach, actual camping in the woods, and being doted on by grandparents isn’t exactly the hardship tour. But moving from the go-go-go pace of the school year into a similar flow during the summer can be exhausting, and I don’t think it should be.
So the following summer, we did a 180 and made a concerted effort to hang out at home with the intent of giving the kids a chance to be bored. Without a doubt, everyone hit the first day of school last year more rested and mentally prepared to take it on. But this also marked my eldest daughter’s freshman year of high school, which brought a whole new level of opportunities to fill out the day. Homework was suddenly more in-depth, school sports now asked more of her time (and ours), and programs like weekend leadership courses were added into the mix.
Of course, our middle school-aged twins had their own layers of activities in there. This is not meant to be a complaint fest. We’re a busy family and I like it that way. But I regularly find it startling just how busy kid-rearing can be, and we don’t even come close to the scheduling madness of families with kids in sports like travel ice hockey. I’ve talked to other parents about this feeling, and there seems to be a general consensus that there is simply more youth programming today than when I was a kid in the 80s.
Whatever the case may be, in my mind, it all falls under the category of schedule creep. Just when I think we’ve got a handle on the calendar of kid events, something new gets tossed in and scrambles my brain. Sometimes, this leads to me becoming Dr. No and nixing all new opportunities in the name of taking a breather. Much as I want the kids to have every opportunity to try out new and potentially exciting activities, it can get overwhelming.
If I’m personally struggling to keep my head on straight when all the things are happening at the same time, it’s likely my kids are struggling just as much, if not more. So lately, my wife and I have been making a concerted effort to avoid double-booking and overlapping activities. It’s not always easy, particularly when being hounded by your children about what they’d like to do. But I think it’s important to avoid crushing schedules in the name of strong mental health. We haven’t discovered the perfect balance quite yet, but I think we’re headed in the right direction.
