5 New Year's Resolutions To Make Your Family Stronger
By Parent Coach Toni Schutta. Posted on .
5. Have your child involved in no more than two activities simultaneously. If your child is in an activity, it means you're in the activity, driving the child and siblings around to get to practices and games. Activities are beneficial to a child's development and self-esteem but excessive activities rob time from you as a family. No factor is more important in a child's development than time spent with his/her family.
Yet, the number of hours children spend in structured sports has doubled. The number of hours a week children passively watch a sibling's activities has increased five-fold to over three hours per week. And the amount of free time that children have has decreased by 12 hours per week.
Be conscious of whether your life feels out of balance and set some rules about the number of activities your child can be involved in simultaneously.
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Make a commitment to make 2013 the best year possible for your family by spending time together connecting and building happy memories.
Toni Schutta, Parent Coach, M.A., L.P., has 18 years experience transforming families so kids and parents can feel extraordinary love, joy and encouragement that will last a lifetime.
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(Source 1:University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, Center Survey, January, 1999. Reported by Sandra L. Hofferth, "Changes in American Children's Time, 1981-1997.")
