I stumbled across this on Tumblr. Because I have a high school student (a freshman this year) who is going through exactly this, I felt it had to be shared.

 

“SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT

So if a teenager is at school for roughly 8 hours, and they are doing homework for 6+ hours, and they need AT LEAST 9 HOURS OF SLEEP FOR THEIR DEVELOPING BRAINS, then they may have 0-1 hours for other activities like eating, bathing, exercise, socializing (which is actually incredibly important for emotional, mental, and physical health, as well as the development of skills vital to their future career and having healthy romantic relationships among other things), religious activities, hobbies, extra curriculars, medical care of any kind, chores (also a skill/habit development thing and required by many parents), relaxation, and family time?  Not to mention that your parents may or may not pressure you to get a job, or you might need to get one for economic reasons.

I will never not reblog this”

So my question is this – how do we change this? Why do we expect this much from our kids, when we aren’t even doing this much as adults. What exactly is this teaching them, other than to be work-a-holics when they are finally done with school and in debt up to their eyeballs. It certainly does not instill a love of learning or reading, key ingredients to living a fulfilled, enriched life.  The stress and anxiety that my 14 year old is going through this year is ridiculous. Homework is assigned over the summer and holiday breaks. Have schools and teachers forgotten the meaning of the word “break”?

Your thoughts?