FOR Marjorie Powis, getting her nine-year-old son, Leon-St John Thompson, involved in extra-curricular activities is one sure way of keeping him out of trouble.

“If the children are not spending the time doing extra-curricular activities they will be spending the time watching TV, and most times it’s not educational programmes,” Powis said.

Leon-St John, who attends West Indies College Prep, is a member of the music, sign language, math and environmental clubs.

His mom says these activities are good for him.

“If they are not involved in extra activities, maybe they will just be wasting time. So I believe the time would be better spent doing something constructive. The extra activities at school provide this,” Powis added.

But while many parents share Powis’ views that extra-curricular activities are good for young children, others like Cecile Ashton, mother of an eight-year-old boy, feels that getting children involved in too many activities will place added pressure on them to do well.

Ashton said her son, who attends the Stella Maris Prep, often complains of feeling tired at the end of the school day. As a result, Ashton said she closely monitors his participation in extra-curricular activities.

“He already has to get up at 6:00 each morning and even after regular classes have ended, he has extra lessons,” she explained. “Extra-curricular activities would keep him at school from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. That would be like a regular working person’s schedule,” she said.

A police office, the parent of a seven-year-old grade two student at the St Andrew Prep School, noted that her son participates in swimming, reading, football and extra writing, while juggling his regular academic curriculum.

The officer, who did not wish to be named, noted that while her son appears to be coping, he “displays laziness and fatigue”, both of which could be symptoms of stress.

“I think he puts out the effort to deal with it because others around him are doing it, and he is expected to do it also,” she said.

Meanwhile, Andre Wilson, a teacher at Stella Maris Prep, noted that parents are keen on having their children “get as much knowledge as possible, from as early as possible”.

“My first experience with the computer was in fourth form in high school. So, for them to be doing it at this age it’s definitely great, especially since the world is moving in that direction,” Wilson said.

But child psychologist Dr Sandra McDermott told the Sunday Observer that a child can become stressed if he or she is burdened with extra-curricular activities which replace the time he or she would need to spend with the parents.

“Too much can burn out the child. It is not wise to clutter a child’s world and not teach the child one-to-one structurability,” she said.

“Extra curricular activity does not define the child. But too much will rob the child of the time he needs to spend with himself and with his parents. This is very important because if the child does not have this time, he will be stressed,” McDermott said.

She also noted that numerous extra-curricular activities might build competitiveness in children, rather than self-esteem, which is unconsciously telling them that they must succeed.

She said that many times children are asked or forced to participate in these activities as a way of occupying their time because the parents do not have the time to spend with them.