Many Union residents with children or teenagers in school should look at what time their children get home every day. Some come straight home after school, but some stay after school for hours due to their involvement in many extracurricular activities. This proves especially true during the fall semester when band, sports, and other school activities dominate students’ lives. While many students and parents love extracurricular activities, a limit exists for both parties; excessive amounts of extracurricular activities may not prove best for children and can even cause harm to all involved.
In considering the effects of excessive extracurriculars, the effects on children and teenagers constitute the primary concern. Writing in a blog reviewed by professors from the University of Florida’s Department of Family, Youth, and Community Services, Carol Church describes how a study of more than 13,000 tenth-graders arrived at the conclusion that “moderate involvement in activities appeared to be beneficial and was linked to improved school performance. However, at very high levels of involvement—more than 14 hours a week—teens’ academic well-being did to decline” (“Extracurricular Activities and Your Teen: How Much is Too Much?”). Spending an excessive amount of time on extracurricular activities hurts students’ academic performance, the primary reason they attend school in the first place. By spending an inordinate amount of time in extracurricular activities, they have less time for homework. When combining the amount of time spend on excessive extracurricular activities and academics, this can leave students feeling extremely stressed and burned out. Furthermore, for younger students, these activities should probably find even more of a reduction. According to an article in Today’s Parent, children learn many of the skills taught in extracurricular activities “at home and during time spent with friends and families.” Children need downtime to engage in free play themselves. Ultimately, children of all ages should not practice extracurricular activities in excess.
In addition to effects on children, parents also prove a concern when evaluating extracurricular activities. All extra activities within and outside of school require money. When a child does several of these activities, they can get quite expensive. Furthermore, if children spend an inordinate amount of time on extracurricular activities, they miss out on vital family time. When children have too much in their schedules, this can “lead to overstressed—for the whole family” (Extracurriculars: How Many is Too Many?”). Moreover, some parents force their children and teenagers to do extracurricular activities that they do not necessarily want to do. This can prove extremely bad for children, and parents should not do this. Instead, parents should learn about their child’s interests to help guide him or her to things he or she wants to do. Parents should also realize that a child’s interests may change and that siblings may not have the same interests as each other (“Extracurriculars: How Many is Too Many?”). An excessive amount of extracurriculars can have negative effects on the entire family, but parents can help mitigate these while also assisting their children in finding things they want to do.
Hopefully, parents with children involved in an excessive number of extracurricular activities will take notice of the time their children get home every day and of the effects this can have on their children. By doing so, parents can better help their children by avoiding the negative effects of excess. Furthermore, schools can also help in this effort if it cares about the well-being of the students; extracurricular organizations can cancel a practice or two without a loss in performance. This break will help students, coaches, directors, and everyone involved. Extracurricular activities can have benefits for students, but as in most other things, moderation proves the best path.
Send your Union community news to Matt Hennington at mch.2000@hotmail.com.
