Are Children Today Overstimulated?
More and more, parents are concerned with stimulating their children’s abilities so that none of their virtues are wasted. Nevertheless, there is a dangerous trend towards raising overstimulated children. We analyze the risks of this model and how to prevent it.
Today’s children often do various activities of all kinds. On the one hand, the school ones: attending classes, doing homework and doing extracurricular activities. On the other hand, there are also distractions such as cell phones, tablets, computers and video games.
Overstimulated children are those who have virtually no freedom. Parents think of them as fragile beings, who need someone to put everything in their way so they don’t “get bored” or miss opportunities for development.
Thus, the child grows up – or is born – in an environment in which he is constantly stimulated. Parents want to have autonomous, independent and capable children to make their own decisions. But is this the right way to reach this goal?
This form of creation is more than inadvisable. Its negative effects are far greater than its positive ones, if any. Overstimulated children are the result of demanding parents who left no room for the child’s freedom.
Overstimulated Children: Negative Consequences
- Loneliness intolerance.
- Inability to wait or be constant.
- Not being able to overcome boredom, not being creative.
- Brain exhaustion, which results in decreased cognitive abilities.
- Narcissistic attitudes , caused by the misuse of new technologies.
In addition, overstimulated children even stop enjoying outdoor play. This is because everything happens at a very “natural” pace; that is, it goes slower than anything you see on screens, where stimuli are dynamic and constant. Not to mention stopping to read a book or at least a short story.
Is early stimulation helpful?
In principle, this method of stimulation in the first months of life was used for children with different problems. For example, those with autism, Down syndrome or cerebral palsy.
However, later on, it started to be used also in children without these problems. The aim, they said, was to improve their skills through certain cognitive and motor exercises. These benefits have never been proven in healthy children.
In fact, subjecting them to these unnecessary exercises can lead to an aversion to similar activities that might be positive. Also, it could be the root of attention or concentration problems. The reason is that they are very mentally demanding, so exposing children to that stress for no reason is not good.
Tips for not raising overstimulated children
1.- Let them out into the street
It is necessary for the little ones to spend time outdoors. At home, however many activities may be offered, they will not develop your senses as much as outside the home. Provide opportunities for them to explore, learn about new things and use their imaginations.
2.- Keep children away from the screens and monitor content
Playing with technological gadgets is not bad in itself. The problem with these devices is that they don’t allow the child to develop their imagination: they offer everything ready-made.
So, it is convenient that most of the children’s recreation time is through common toys. Although they seem trite and uninteresting, it is a challenge for children to find different uses for them; this is something that is a lot of fun to top it all off.
On the other hand, it is also important that parents monitor what their children see on television or on the internet. Today’s cartoons are full of colors and animations that overwhelm your minds; far from resting, what this produces is even more mental stress.
3.- Encourage conversations
This is convenient at many times of the day when, perhaps without realizing it, this habit is breaking down. For example, when eating, turn off the television and make a habit of interacting with your family.
As children are a reflection of their parents’ behavior, logically you should teach the way. You can read a story each night to the child. This, in addition to benefiting your ability to pay attention, enhances your imagination and creates a bond of union with your parents.
4.- Do not overload with activities
In an attempt to make their children stand out, today’s parents do nothing but overstimulate them. Like? They enroll their children in English classes, soccer, piano, yoga, karate and all the activities they once wanted to do.
Thus, children have practically no free time. They don’t know how to be bored or find ways to distract themselves because they literally never have time to learn how to do that.
In this sense, there is no doubt that the best thing is to let them pursue their own activities and develop their capabilities in the most natural way possible.
