# Are 21st century children stressed children? > The other day my son said something to me that made me reflect, and as a result, this post was born. - **Author:** mireia-navarro-vera · **Category:** Infantil - **Published:** 2017-06-23 · **Updated:** 2018-03-01 - **URL:** https://elteuespai.com/en/are-21st-century-children-stressed/ - _Translation pending clinical review._ --- ## Time is the most valuable thing a person can spend (Theophrastus) The other day my son said something to me that made me reflect, and as a result, this post was born: ***"mom, what a drag!! the afternoons fly by and I don't have time for anything".*** I remember the afternoons of my childhood when leaving school very differently, **I remember them as veeeery long**, I had time to have a snack while watching TV, play, and do homework. **My perception was different.** Later, when you grow up, time starts to fly and you get the feeling of going too fast. But in childhood this doesn't happen, or so I thought. And it turns out my son already has that adult feeling that time passes too quickly and that you don't even have time to live. **What has changed? Is this what I want for my children?** And the answer is NO, I don't want this for my children, but **what can I do?** After thinking about the things that make time fly, I came to the conclusion that **having afternoons full of activities doesn't help**. **Rushing in the mornings** to get to school **or filling the weekend with things to do doesn't help either**. So these are **some of the changes I'm going to put into practice** for the coming school year: ### Few extracurricular activities **Relaxed mornings. How do you start the day? Three extracurricular activities a week will be my limit**. Together we'll decide which activities are the best and the ones we like most. The rest are out. **They need to have free afternoons from Monday to Friday.** ### Adding a meditation activity **Some time ago I decided to get up earlier so I wouldn't have to rush** and the truth is that it has worked for me. **Having breakfast together, sitting at the table, without shouting…** Everything is timed, of course, but **you don't breathe that feeling of morning stress like before.** How I start the day is very important; in other cultures the day begins with praying or meditating, and we begin it by rushing. I think this is very characteristic. I invite you to try it: get up with time to spare, have breakfast, breathe, and enjoy your children before going to work; you'll see how it changes your day. ### Free weekends And when the **weekend**….. arrives, it's **full of activities and we still have to rush to leave the house.** Soccer match at 10am, family lunch at 2pm, and an afternoon at the movies…**How many weekends do you stay bored at home?** If the answer is few or none, some change needs to be made. When we stay at home, we **teach our children that you can also enjoy the act of doing nothing**, of not being in a hurry, of playing calmly with those toys they never have time to use…It's a good lesson, especially in a consumer society (going out to eat, going to the movies,…) where entertainment comes at a cost. ### Learning to be bored (reducing over-stimulation) Free weekends are a good time to practice boredom. The children of this century **are over-stimulated children, they have everything at a click and don't have to wait to get anything**. All of this, if poorly managed, can have negative effects in the future. According to the **studies carried out by the research group "Neuroplasticity and Learning"**, at the **University of Granada** (UGR), coordinated by Milagros Gallo, over-stimulation can affect learning. **The excess of stimuli generates in children** -as in drug addicts- **a level of "tolerance"**, that is, **there comes a moment when the stimuli no longer generate the same satisfaction, so it is necessary to seek more.** As parents, I believe it is our mission to teach our children to be bored and thus develop their creativity. ### Time to observe ![Cloudy horse cloud-700x466](/images/blog/2017/06/NubelynCaballoNuboso-700x466-300x200.webp)When I imagine a relaxing scene, I often see myself lying on the grass watching the sky, feeling the air, and hearing the singing of some birds. **How many times have your children been like that, contemplating the sky?** Mine never, so this summer I'm going to play with them to see what figures the clouds draw in the sky. That way I'll teach them to contemplate things, just because. ## Conclusions **New times, new needs.** "Intelligence is the capacity that man has to adapt to his environment" and if we want to fulfill **our role as parents** well, we must **teach our children to adapt in the best way**. We live in the society of now, of fast-fast, of not waiting, of everything at a click…Everything goes too fast, which is why **we must learn to stop.** Remember that we are behavioral models; if we are not able to stop, neither will they. **Living more slowly is possible and you can see it in [our post](/en/living-slower-is-possible/).** If you want more information about childhood stress, we recommend [childhood stress](/en/8-tools-to-combat-childhood-stress/)