Tips for managing children's after-school activities

Do you have busy children? Between sports practice, scouting activities, music lessons and other commitments, it's easy for a heavily involved kid to feel overstretched, and the same goes for said kid's parents. Here are four tips for helping your household handle stuffed schedules.

1. Make a schedule

At the end of the day, it's much easier to see how your week is going to work out if you can actually visualize it. Make a schedule that shows where your kids need to be and when. This does two things: One, it helps cement the plan in your mind, so you're less likely to let something slip during the week. Two, it gives you a chance to notice problems before they're a real issue. If you notice something is overlapping, or that there's not enough time to get from point A to point B, you'll have time to rearrange things so the schedule make sense.

2. Keep it simple

If your kids are stretched all over the place, consider cutting a few of their activities. Extracurriculars are a good thing, unless they're causing your children to be overscheduled. There's no magic number of after school activities - some kids can handle more, others less. However, there are signs you can keep an eye out for that indicate your children might have too much on their plate. The most obvious sign is slipping behind on schoolwork, but that's not the only thing you should watch out for. Tiredness, constant bad moods and headaches might mean your kids are too stressed out, and their schedules should be reevaluated. Make sure you're getting their input on this, as they might have a better idea of where the overworking is coming from.

3. Pick physically close activities

If you're managing multiple kids' schedules, you have to keep travel time in mind. The closer together your children's various activities are, the easier it will be for everyone - particularly if they have close together start and stop times. If you have an older child who plays soccer at a local community center, see if there are any group activities for your younger child at the same center. This way you can drop them both off at the same time and place, and you don't have to worry about rushing from one location to the other when things are done.

4. Share the load

Parents don't always have to handle the whole activity process on their own. If you have an older child, he or she might be able to pick up your younger child from practice if the schedule doesn't work out for you to do so. Do you live in the same neighborhood as some of your children's activity mates? Consider talking to nearby parents about creating an alternating carpool, so each parent takes turns picking the kids up and dropping them off at home. Falling into the trap of thinking you have to do it all can make you feel crazy - avoid it instead.