Structured Activities Quotes

Having a routine, knowing what to do, gives me a sense of freedom and keeps me from going crazy. It's calming.

Everything has to be organised for kids in London - you can't just walk three roads to see a friend.

The problem with kids these days is they don't have enough fun stuff to do. When I was stationed with my family in Germany, youth basketball programs gave me something to strive to do my best at.

If you see a child with autistic-like behaviors at age two and three, the worst thing you can do is just let them sit and watch TV all day. That's just the worst thing you can do. You need to have a teacher working with that child, working on teaching language, working on social interaction, working on getting them interested in different things, and keeping their brain connected to the world.

We had a normal childhood. I played baseball, and we played violin in orchestras three times a week. I learned more from that than anything else.

When you are a kid, you need to have something to do. This will keep you off the streets.

My mom devised a plan to get me out of the house and gave me the choice between ballet or skating. She knew both of those sports were time-consuming and would keep me busy with hours of practice.

It's a mistake to try to use play to deliberately foster developmental progress.

I wish we could get back to those days, just let kids go and play and enjoy themselves on the streets instead of at academies too young.

We have a lot of pressures on children very young. We have ambition. We over-schedule our children. We want them to have soccer lessons and violin lessons... I think children need to have at least an hour of fun a day.

My mom said I was not going to be an idle child, so I had things to do every day after school.

We all have our routines," he said softly."But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.

Many kids, particularly in lower-income families, would actually benefit from more structured activities. Plenty of children, especially teenagers, thrive on a busy schedule. But just as other trappings of modern childhood, from homework to technology, are subject to the law of diminishing returns, there is a danger of overscheduling the young.