Q: What do you feel about a weekly schedule that is full? Can you overload a child with positive activities, such as music, sports and language? How can you tell when children have too much?

A: If you're a regular reader, you will know for sure that I recommend positive involvement in extracurricular activities — e.g., sports, arts, drama, music and religious groups — for children and teens. It is important to help children explore interests, stay engaged in activities and learn to collaborate and compete. Activities even help them to learn to organize their complex schedules and build confidence. Furthermore, when they are not involved in good activities, screens often predominate over their free time.

Nevertheless, a weekly schedule can be too full. If a child is overloaded in an occasional week, it is only part of teaching children to organize themselves and adjust to pressure. If they are regularly too busy, that can be stressful and unhealthy, and they need to make changes. Too many activities can be hectic for the whole family and cause both children and adults to lose their tempers, nag and be inconsiderate. An activity can also have negative effects on important school learning.

I usually recommend that about every four months, families do an inventory of their activities and decide on what they would absolutely want to continue and consider what they should possibly discontinue. If families do that together, both parental and child priorities can be considered in determining whether anything should be eliminated. That timeline can be the beginning of the school year, the start of the second semester and the start of summer. Occasionally, families or children may need to eliminate activities midway, but by and large, it's good for children to set reasonable time commitments for any activities before quitting. Also, children need to consider that when they have taken on a team responsibility, other students and coaches are counting on them.

In addition to the triannual inventory, a weekly family meeting can help adults and children coordinate and prepare for their schedules. An erasable whiteboard in a family room can include everyone's weekly activities so parents and children alike can keep track of them. It can also include family chores and responsibilities. That type of family planning can be a great help to children's learning of organizational skills and prevent excessive parental nagging and reminding.

Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or [email protected]. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.