We have been writing about helping your teen find his talents and learning to be his personal best. One stumbling block to accomplishing this is having a teen who is overscheduled. I see teens all the time who are going to band or athletic practice at 6:30 AM, attending class, then returning to practice until evening. Then they go to dance class, or sports lessons, or tutoring before returning home to start homework sometime that night. One teen told me she had four hours each night "scheduled" to sleep. She seemed convinced that four hours was adequate sleep. Listening to some of these teens' schedules makes me feel tired. I cannot imagine how it is for them.
So how do we help our teen with this? Going back to helping him understand his aptitudes and gifts is a good way to help. Once he understands where his talents and interests lie, help him look carefully at how he is spending his time. If he is engaging in activities that fall outside his interest, try to help him understand why he is in those activities. He may need to make some choices about how he spends his time.
After all, don't we want our teen to have fun during the process?
Dr. Debra
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