Jessie Foss
fossjj@uwec.edu

      What did you do today?  It’s a question parents ask their children around the country every night.  The typical response from children is, ‘nothing.’  Now, more than ever, that statement could not be any less accurate.

             According to a 2004 University of Michigan study students aged 6 to 17 spend 7.5 hours more per week on school work than children the same age did 20 years ago. Eau Claire 13-year-olds are no different from the rest of the country in the busyness of their schedules.

“In (Eau Claire) at least, if (children) want to be competitive in any extra curricular things, be it music to sports, they have to do it above and beyond outside of school,” Cindy Digney said.

            Digney teaches eighth grade U.S. history and communications at Northstar Middle School in Eau Claire.  She is also the mother of two boys, ages 13 and 15.

A Day in the Life of a 13-year-old

            Thirteen-year-old Sierra Sanders, an eighth grader at Northstar, is no stranger to a busy schedule.

            Sierra’s day starts at 6 a.m. when she gets up and gets ready for the morning.

            “I have to get up early because I’m pretty slow in the morning,” Sierra said.

            Once ready, Sierra usually gets a ride to school from her dad or walks, she said.

            Classes at Northstar begin at 7:45 a.m. and for Sierra that class is science.  Tuesday, Sierra, along with her classmates, was busy learning about force and horsepower.  The class involved a lab where the students ran up stairs and figured out the amount of horsepower they used.

            With the ding of the bell at 8:40 Sierra is off to “star time.”  This is a time that Sierra describes as a 15-minute recess.  On this day the students are meeting for breakfast in the school’s cafeteria.  After this time to reconnect with friends, Sierra meets for a 45-minute band rehearsal. 

            Sierra plays the flute, but said she has no plans of playing in high school. The band is practicing for the upcoming Christmas concert.  In addition to the Christmas concert, the band will be taking a day off of school and going on a tour to perform at Eau Claire's elementary schools.  The band will also perform pep band music at an upcoming UW-Eau Claire basketball game.

            At 9:45, Sierra moves on to English.  Fitting with the time of year the student teacher has the students reading and working in groups on Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.”  As the student teacher urges them to hurry and finish their assignment, Sierra and her group laugh over the word gay and one group member’s fervor for Charles Dickens. 

            Math, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., is next on Sierra’s schedule.  The math period starts off with a 10 to 15 minute reading time for the students.  After the reading time the students begin working on a warm-up problem, finding the slope and Y-intercept of a graph.  The room is abuzz with extra noise, even after the student teacher’s urging of students to be good, because he is being observed by his college professor. 

            Lunch time for Sierra comes at 11:30 a.m.  The half-hour break in classes allows Sierra to talk with friends, eat and get ready for afternoon classes.  A couple days a week after school Sierra is busy with basketball, so she said lunch is an important time to get food, so she can last through practice.

            Sierra’s afternoon includes resource time.  Resource time is like a study hall, a time Digney describes as an important time for students to get in extra music practice and reconnect with teachers they may need to help them with homework.

During Sierra’s resource time her teacher urges the students to keep working on collecting donations for those less fortunate in the Eau Claire area.  She said she knows the students have a lot on their plates, but urges them to try to remember that part of the Christmas season is about helping others.

From 12:25 p.m. to 1:10 p.m., Sierra is in her social studies class. The day is catching up to her and  Sierra begins to yawn.  The class works on a fast-paced, partner project on the U.S Constitution.  After social studies Sierra spends the next 40 minutes in her German class.  The class works on fixing errors in German sentences and then translating them to English.  The class also learns about an old German tradition, St. Nick’s Day.

Sierra’s last class of the day, speech, runs from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.  Tuesday Sierra listens to classmates give demonstration speeches on topics ranging from crocheting to scoring a goal in ice hockey. 

            While her school day may be ending, on most days, Sierra’s day is nowhere near being finished.    

Warning signs your child might be too busy

Your child may be feeling overscheduled if...

• They try to get out of activities (forgetting or complaining about them).

• They show a decrease in their enjoyment of the activities.

• Taking activities too seriously: getting angry or showing disappointment or anxiety.

• Always feels rushed in a daily routine.

What parents can do to free up some time

Recommendations...

• Regain control and balance. Focus on moderation.

• It's okay to limit activities by setting family rules.

• Allow unstructured and unscheduled time.

• Establish and enforce family time.

-By Michelle Kees, assistant professor of psychiatry at University of Michigan, 2005.

Listen to audio clips from interviews in this story:

• Cindy Digney: "It's almost as if though, in this town at least, if they want to be competitive in any extra circular things be it music to sports, they have to do above and beyond outside of school."

Links to related Web sites:

• A MedicineNet.com article about the stress of teenagers and their boredom with free time.

• A Lady's Home Journal story on how to recognize when your kid is cracking under pressure and what you can do to prevent it.

• A University of Michigan study about the amount of school work today's teens handle and what time they have left over for other activities.

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