Tag: balance

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Overbooked and stressed out: Are we doing our kids a disservice?

Every parent wants to raise confident, well rounded children. We want to give our children the growing up experience they deserve. So many parents want their children to play a sport, learn a musical instrument, be at the top of their class, and be involved in other school sponsored extra curricular activities. And while all of these activities are good things to want your child to be involved in, at what cost does that involvement come? Are we overbooking our children, causing them to be stressed out and too busy? 

There are many benefits to having your child involved in extra curricular activities. Those activities can teach children things that just can’t be taught as well in the classroom— things like how to be a good sport, being part of a team, and how to manage your time effectively. Friendships can form. Kids can learn to be disciplined and what it takes to improve at something. Music lessons can help students in their academic studies and can boost creativity. Martial arts can help kids learn self defense, respect, and determination. Extra curricular activities are also a great way to boost confidence in children and teens. They can see their hard work pay off and they can feel good about their accomplishments. 

But what happens when the extra “stuff” becomes too much? Parents want their children to be involved and to develop their talents, but it often comes at a cost. Kids need time to just be kids. They need time to decompress from their day, and need a chance to slow down. If they are overbooked with extra activities and responsibilities, those chances to slow down become few and far between. Oftentimes, we see academic success and progress suffering at the hand of too many extra curricular activities. Opportunities for non-extracurricular social interaction lessen. Sleep deprivation can come into play when students are so overbooked that they don’t get to their homework until late at night, which then can bleed into poor academic performance because their young brains are not functioning at full capacity when they are already tired and overworked, not to mention the toll that poor sleep habits have on cognitive function during the daytime. 

I am constantly in awe and disbelief at the teenagers in my neighborhood. They are all doing incredible things, and it is remarkable to see their talents bloom. That being said, I know it comes at a great cost. One girl a few houses down from me is a competitive dancer. After school most days of the week, she heads from school to home, just to turn around and head to the dance studio for the next few hours of her night. On Wednesdays, she finishes dance at 6:30, then promptly heads to her church congregation’s youth activity for the week, which usually lasts until 8-8:30. Once that is over, she can head home and do her homework and get some down time before heading to bed just to start it all over again the next morning. I’m exhausted just writing this! 

I don’t know if there are any easy solutions to this dilemma. What I do know is that young minds are precious and should be treated with care. It is essential to find a decent balance between being involved and being too involved. For some families, that may look like cutting out extra curricular activities all together. For others, it might mean cutting back on how many extra activities they are involved in, or maybe cutting back from participating in competitive teams and sticking only to school or city recreation teams. Some families may have magically figured out the perfect routine and balance that works for them (lucky!). 

Whatever the case may be, there is much to be considered when putting children and teens into extra curricular activities. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. But one thing is certain: we need to be sure to look out for the well being of our rising generation, and need to make sure they are healthy and well!

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Avoiding Teacher Burnout

Rather than doing traditional student teaching, I opted to do an internship. Instead of taking over someone else’s classroom for a few months, I was hired as a full time teacher, with my own classroom, and my own classes. Thankfully I had a mentor teacher next door to me who was incredibly helpful, because that first year was a doozy. I had six classes of ninth graders and one class of mixed seventh through ninth graders. I remember asking myself several times during that first year, “What have I gotten myself into?! Am I even cut out for this?” I would often find myself overwhelmed with everything I needed to do. Between PLC meetings, IEP meetings, SEP conferences, student engagement, grading, lesson planning, and everything in between, I was quickly burning out. I had to learn how to balance it all so that I could continue doing my job effectively. Those things I learned in my first year of teaching carried me through many moments over the next eight years of my teaching career. 

One of the most helpful things for me to learn was to develop good relationships with your department and other coworkers. Utilize their experience. Having other adults to use as a sounding board, shoulder to cry on, or second mind to generate ideas is incredibly helpful. Find someone who is willing to give honest, constructive feedback— and then don’t be afraid to implement their suggestions! Be okay with asking for help, and with accepting help when it is offered. Creating a positive work relationship with those you work with is empowering and can help carry you through hard days.

Another thing I learned was that I needed to figure out how to balance things. I had to learn that I couldn’t do everything at once, and that I needed to prioritize my do to list. So instead of panicking that I wasn’t going to have my entire term planned out, I learned to be okay with planning out one unit at a time. Rather than trying to frantically try to get all seven classes’ essays graded within a few days of there due date, I allowed myself some extra time so that I could really focus on each paper and give meaningful feedback. Accepting that some things just might have to be set aside for a short time allowed me to really focus on what was most important. 

Flexibility is something that is absolutely crucial in teaching. Rarely do your days and your lessons go exactly how you have planned them to go. And that’s okay! Learning to be flexible can lessen stress. Some days you just have to let go of the lesson you had planned and really learn to feel out what your students need the most. That might mean eliminating an activity all together, altering an activity, or completely changing the lesson you had planned. I recall one day in particular when I had to completely abandon my plans for the day and restructure what we were going to do. One of my classes had learned it was my birthday. I can’t recall all the details of how it happened, but they had gone in on a birthday cake and decorations for me. So rather than sticking to the lesson I had planned, I allowed them to throw a birthday party for the first part of class. I can’t imagine how sad they would have felt if I had not been flexible that day and had shut their efforts down. It ended up being a special class period for all of us.

Something else that helped me avoid burn out was learning to leave work at work. Instead of bringing 150 essays home to grade at night, I trained myself to use my prep period and other planning time more effectively. This allowed me to really separate work and home life. That isn’t to say that I never brought work home, because some times, I simply had to. But for the most part, I left my work at work so that I could be 100% present at home. 

Lastly, one of the most important things I learned to help me avoid burn out was to laugh. Relax and have fun. Remember that your students can bring so much joy. When I would remember that my “why” was my students, I would feel so much better about my job. I thoroughly enjoyed laughing with my students and having fun with them. I can’t imagine a day without laughter in my classroom. Some days, it really is what saved me and kept me going. 

There is so much expected of teachers that burn out is a real concern. However, if teachers are proactive about it, and really put in the effort, the feelings of burn out subside, allowing teachers to feel more confident and in control.