负荷过重的美国儿童

For most public schools, Columbus Day means a day off. But for Melissa Driscoll and her two daughters, there is no rest for the weary.

Well, we're two Brownie troops, so we're gonna, err 1, go to Agnes Farm and pick some vegetables and fruits and it's part of our activity for earning our Try-it Badge.

But today's report says it's parents who should try lightening the load when it comes to overscheduling.

Children now have, are engaged in a lot of enrichment activities, you know, extracurricular activities, sports activities----we think that's great, we just want balance.

Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg is a pediatrician and co-author of the 32-page report which says free and unstructured play is essential for the physical, social and emotional well-being 2 of children.

We've had to understand that play or even in school, for example recess 3, allows kids to reboot and as they reboot, they're gonna absorb all of the rest of life's lessons more effectively.

Dr. Ginsburg also says all work and no play could not only make Jack 4 dull, it could make him depressed 5.

We're taking care of a lot of kids who are showing the manifestations 6 of stress, you know the bellyaches, the fatigue 7, they're not sleeping well enough. You know by the time they get to college, there seem to be increasing levels of anxiety and depression.

But many parents fear slowing the pace means not keeping up with the Joneses or the Joneses' kids.

So what do you guys wanna do today? Would you rather...

That hasn't kept the Brown family from Fort Worth, Texas, from keeping two days a week free, just for fun.

My son looked at me and said, Mom, I just want some me time. And I said, OK.

It was too much...

And the parents we spoke 8 with knew all too well about the perils 9 of overscheduling.

So I'm just curious, do you get the sense that kids today are over-scheduled?

Absolutely, we actually had to make a conscious decision to unschedule them, and to make more family time. Because we realize we're raising kids we didn't even see.

My wife and I both teach, so we try to really under-program as opposed to over-program.

Really, why?

Just so kids have a chance to grow up to be kids.

So if you're in a quandary 10 about how much is too much, you may wanna go directly to the source.

Would you rather be going to the farm or just hanging at home?

Hanging at home.

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extracurricular:extracurricular activities are things that you do at school or college that are not part of your program of study 课外的
bellyache:informal a pain in your stomach 腹痛