Overscheduled Children: How Big A Problem? (Bruce Feiler)
Bruce Feiler is a writer who works at home. His latest book is “The Secrets of Happy Families.” This appeared in the New York Timeson October 11, 2013.
The post reflects how highly educated, middle-class parents try to raise their children amid conflicting advice of “experts” on child rearing. Of course, disagreements over child rearing go back centuries. They mirror conflicts about what is a “good” school, how best to teach children and youth, and a host of value-driven questions that school reformers and “experts” have tried to answer then and now. When parents are torn over how best to raise their children, count on those conflicts and similar ones turning up in discussions about schools for middle-class children and in debates among reformers seeking policies that are best for schooling working class and poor students.
Now that the school year is under way, my wife and I are busy managing our children’s after-school schedules, mixing sports practices, music lessons, homework and play dates. It can be a complicated balancing act for our