Before her kids’ routine was blown up by the pandemic in March 2020, Sarah Sweeney had much in common with other action-oriented parents keen to provide their children with enriching extras.
“It’s where they’re going to learn to get along with each other, problem-solve and all those basic things we need for our mental health.” “All the parents I know are pulling back from all that crazy extracurricular stuff because it’s a bloody nightmare, the running around.”While lockdown was horrendous, “the slow pace of not rushing out the door at the end of the day to get kids to a myriad of activities was fantastic.”
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg says large numbers of extracurricular activities for children are “a source of narcissistic supply” for some parents.“When you talk to the children, all they want is to feel safe, valued, listened to and have some time to play, and this unstructured play seems to be dying in the arse,” he said.
Even so, for those who can afford it, the line between healthy participation and headache-inducing overload is “eternal”, according to the Victorian Children’s Clinic’s Lexi Frydenberg. She has been in paediatrics for 20-plus years, and a parent for 18, and says, “I’ve been talking about this probably on a weekly basis.”
She agrees with Professor Hiscock that enforced periods of slowness have shown parents that children don’t need to be doing structured and organised activities every day, and has seen them trying to make changes.
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