Unschooling

Are kids today more stressed out?

Do you think kids today are more stressed out than kids were when you were young? What are the biggest things that stress out your kids? How old are they, and how do they handle stress?

Share your responses here -- your comments may be featured in a future segment on the Today show.

LOL, these questions seem a little incongruous on an unschooling board. What could be stressful about a child-paced, child-directed, family-nurtured, home-based life outside the mainstream?

Right now my kids' big stress is deciding whether we should pluck and eat the grouse that brained itself on our front door this morning. Methinks they'll opt for no.

Miranda

Schooled kids? Definitely more stressed, with less time for rest and unstructured play.

My always unschooled 9 yr old son? Not so much. His stress usually involves having a wide array of options freely available and trying to choose among an the equally okay options (that is, we don't dictate which choice he can make, though we will provide our 2 cents if he wants it, which he often does)

--Deb

Q:Are kids today more stressed out?

A:I'm quite positive "Public School" kids are more stressed out today, all due to more demands being placed on them at even earlier ages. I'm also quite positive even Homeschooled kids,(ones who are being force-fed a set curriculumn that is) are more stressed out as well, due to same.

 Not so with Unschooled. 

Q:Do you think kids today are more stressed out than kids were when you were young?

A:See above answer. What do you think?

Q:What are the biggest things that stress out your kids?

A:My oldest right now, is stressed because I'm on this darn computer, and she wants to go outside.Ditto for my youngest.

Q:How old are they?

A:7yrs & 2yrs YOUNG.

Q:...And how do they handle stress?

A:Well, currently they are screaming and yelling at me to get off the computer!

SO...

Ditto on the Public schooled kids being more stressed out. Homework in Kindergarten? Come on. I remember the days that Kindergarten was all about learning how to play and have fun.

My daughter stressed? Only when she is unable to get outside because I am busy cleaning house or on the computer. Stressed when she just can't make up her mind what to eat because I have too many options for her. Too many things to choose from in general when it comes to activities.

Too many pressures are put onto children at such a young age and it is sad.

Example my sister in law is homeschooling because she is against what schools are doing, but yet she is finding herself doing the same thing at home. She is putting demands on her kids that they would in school. They sit down to do busywork from morning until 3 in the afternoon and we are not to disturb them. I try to tell her that homeschooling is all about going at your child's pace and not doing "school". She claimed to not do schooling with her little one until she was 6 and she just turned 4 and is starting the busywork with her too.

I think it is so sad that these stresses are put on anyone.

I am so happy to be unschooling- natural learning with my daughter. I want her to carry a love of lifetime learning with her.

Trish Momma to Hanna 5 1/2 years old