Overcompensating for a Pandemic Year

We need to take a break from piano. Sarah is over-scheduled for the fall.

As we enter the fall semester, there are always some students who don't continue. If music were easy, everyone would be a musician.

The prizewinner of reasons this summer is...you guessed it!

That the student is over-scheduled. 

What I find intriguing is that parents often describe over-scheduling like something that's been inflicted upon the student.

We have to take a break from piano. Michael has mono.

We have to take a break from piano. Michael is over-scheduled.

That kind of thing.

I believe we're seeing it more this year because we're overcompensating. Trying to give our kids what they missed out on last year. Trying to make that year up, as it were.

But it doesn't work like that. The time has passed, and we've had our experiences. Some of us made the best of it. Some of us counted the minutes until we could approach something like normal.

Regardless of the past year, the normal rules will still apply to kids this fall. They need balance more than ever.

We must remember that over-scheduling is not an affliction. It's a decision. And it's a decision parents have complete control over.

It's a decision that can help our kids become the best versions of themselves into adulthood. Or it's a decision that can train them to be constantly moving from one thing to the next, never able to take a break.

The choice is ours. Pandemic or not.