Extracurricular activities are a great way to enrich your child’s academic career, expose them to new things, and help them learn a new skill. But as your child gets older, they may find it difficult to balance all the extracurricular activities they have with their academic schedule.
First and foremost, remember that academics always come before extracurricular activities. The following tips can also help your child find balance between activities and studying.
- Develop a Schedule—Sit down with your child and talk about what needs to be done and when it needs to be finished by. Then, discuss what your child’s extracurricular activity schedule looks like for the week. If it looks like there will not be enough time for everything, prioritize the most important tasks.
- Be Picky About Extracurricular Activities—It can be tempting to enroll your child in every extracurricular activity there is. But when it comes to extracurricular activities, there can be too much of a good thing. Talk to your child about which activities they enjoy the most or that they learn the most from, and then consider dropping the rest.
- Take Some Breaks—There may come a time where your child needs to focus more on school than extracurricular activities. If your child is struggling to balance everything, give them permission to drop a few of their activities for a while until they’re ready to go back.