Today adults will tell children that they need to live like children while they still are, but are kids too busy to be kids? Lots of kids today have overbearing parents, a lot of responsibilities at home, and lots of homework that makes kids stressed. I think kids today are too busy to be kids because of how high of expectations adults have for kids today.

As we get older, teachers put a lot of pressure on kids by giving them homework from multiple classes and wanting it to be done the next day. This can cause kids to become stressed and not hang out with their friends so they can have some peace. School is a big part of a person’s life but stress can affect younger or older people. According to experts, “High levels of early stress have been linked to impaired behavioral and emotional development as well as numerous health consequences later in life, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes” (Urban Child Institute). If you notice that you’ve become stressed, I have come to find a couple of personal ways to de-stress myself. I will sit on my roof and just stare at the sky, draw in my sketchbook or just lay down and listen to music for a while. If you want scientifically proven ways to de-stress yourself, check out this article by Huffpost on, “20 Scientifically Backed ways to Destress Right Now”. 

Overprotective parents are a huge problem with some children these days. Even though structure is good, being overbearing is a completely different thing. When a kid is having to deal with an overbearing parent, they can’t experience the simple decisions a normal kid can make. They don’t know how to make decisions for themselves; for example, what friends to make, who they can or can’t hang out with and who they can and can’t trust. This happens because the kid hasn’t made decisions for themselves without parental approval. The “helicopter parents” think that when they have control over their kid’s life they think their kid is benefiting from it. But actually the kid will suffer very much from it in the future. This article by the Health Research Funding.Org explains this more in detail.  

A lot of children today can’t do social activities because of chores. I understand that kids need to learn responsibility, but most of the time while kids are doing chores their parents are just sitting around not doing anything. I think it’s fair if everyone in the house helps clean up; not just the kids. But I think younger kids shouldn’t have to worry about chores and should worry about being a kid. According to a study done in September 2008, “The outdoor environment offers space and therefore is particularly important to those children who learn best through active movement. Very young children learn predominantly through their sensory and physical experiences which supports brain development and the creation of neural networks. For many children, playing outdoors at their early years setting may be the only opportunity they have to play safely and freely while they learn to assess risk and develop the skills to manage new situations” (Council of  Learning Outside the Classroom). Instead of making younger children stay inside all the time doing nothing or just chores, it is better to take the child outside and play with them!

I believe kids are too busy to be kids these days. With all of the school work, chores, responsibilities, and overprotective “helicopter” parents there’s not much time for kids to just be kids with carefree manner. Then again not everyone has chores, lots of school work or overprotective parents. What do you think? Are kids too busy to be kids?