Activity overload for NJ students?

If your children are having trouble waking up for school, completing homework, dreading involvement in sports or after-school activities, and not spending quality family time, it might be time to scale-back.

Kathy Coulibaly, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), said there is no state-initiated limitation on school-related activities. She pointed out that it is a great problem for parents to have, because kids have so many opportunities to try different things, explore where their interests lie, and really blossom in everything from sports to art clubs, to music lessons.

"As a general rule, I really firmly believe you pay close attention to how your children are doing. Certainly, you trust parents to make the best decisions about these things possible. Some kids thrive on being really busy and having something after school every day, and other kids really need a lot more down time. They might be in a place where they can go outside and have structured play and do things like that, but not every kid has that, so you really definitely encourage parents to make those decision based on what they see is best for their kids," said Coulibaly.

Coulibaly noted that while individual districts may institute policies requiring students to maintain acceptable grade averages to participate in district-sponsored activities, that is not always the case with non-school sanctioned activities and sports.

"A lot of districts unfortunately, as a result of budget cuts and spending cuts, have either reduced school-sponsored district-sponsored sporting activities, so you see more parents that are going outside and they're participating in travel teams and things like that," Coulibaly said.

For parents of students involved in activities separate from school or on traveling sports teams, Coulibaly encouraged them electronically monitor their children's grades to determine whether their child is over-scheduled and not focusing on the most important thing. "And that is, doing the best they can at school," she added.

Coulibaly suggested taking a closer look at the activities and cutting back if necessary to find a good balance between family time, academics and the opportunities to try new things.