Is your child over-scheduled? Here's how you can change that

With the back-to-school madness in full swing, it's important to take a step back and assess your kids' schedule. Have you signed them up for too many things? Are they running from place to place with no time for a break? Because if so, you may be surprised to hear that this overload of structured activities may be doing your children more harm than good.

More and more studies are showing how busy schedules are putting children's health at risk by throwing their sleep schedules out of whack and how the over-scheduling makes kids anxious. CBC Radio's On the Coast recently explored the lost art of play in a five-part series. Listen to an interview with producer Claire Hennings here where she goes into more detail on the subject, explaining why playtime is essential for kids' (and parents') sanity and mental health.

With that in mind, and to help your family find balance in this busy time of year, we've put together a list of ways to insert unstructured downtime into your day and adopt a more nurturing lifestyle.

1. Spend five minutes with your child in the morning. Grab your coffee, set it up high where the kids can't dump it, and spread out some toys from the play box. Set your timer so you still make it out the door on time — and just play! Heck, you don't even need a five minute chunk. According to play-based therapist, Johanna Simmons, two minutes a few times a day is all you need, so repeat while dinner's cooking, then again before bed and you're golden.
2. Let the kids see YOU relax and play in your life, too. If you're on-the-go all day and scrolling through your Facebook feed when you've got some downtime, it's hard to teach kids play-based values if you're not living by them either. Start by selecting a few fun things to tinker with yourself, like a colouring book or a rubix cube, and don't be afraid to pick them up and play for some good unstructured fun yourself.
3. Opt for at least one weekend afternoon with no scheduled activities. Scary, isn't it? But it truly is possible, and the downtime will leave the whole family refreshed. If you find you're booking all your grooming or massage appointments into that window, at least drop the kids off with the grandparents so they can play, freely.
4. Send the kids outside after dinner. Okay, we mean in the warmer months — but it's important to make this a ritual. They'll most likely fight this suggestion and say they'd rather watch TV. But even Mark Zuckerberg hopes his new daughter will go outside and play, because he knows just how important it is. And if you're worried they'll be bored out there? That's the point. Give them a bucket and you'll be surprised at how much they'll discover they can do with dirt.
5. Go picnic. Eating outside encourages everyone to play. And it's the best solution for compulsive over-schedulers You get to knock off two tasks at once — playing and eating — and spend some valuable time with loved ones. Bonus: no kitchen cleanup. Here's what to pack and eat.

So now that you'll be inserting more downtime into your family's schedule, the back-to-school madness just got more chill. Now all that's left to do is make any of these treats for the kids' lunch, and your parental report card will earn straight A's.