Does your kid have 'hurried child syndrome'? How to tell and what to do

(NEXSTAR) – We've all got busy lives, but that busyness can turn into a serious syndrome for young children, health experts warn.

"Hurried child syndrome," as it's called, happens when a busy schedule – with school, extracurriculars, and family obligations – turns into a source of stress and anxiety for children.

"Day to day, our children are involved in so many activities that we are hurried all throughout the day to get from one thing to the next," explains Cleveland Clinic Children's psychologist Kate Eshelman.

The syndrome doesn't come from you rushing your kid to get dressed, clarifies economist Emily Oster, who studies parenting and childhood development data. It's more about rushing them to grow up, and putting adult-like responsibilities and expectations on them while they're still very young.

"This is about a global, existential hurrying, not about trying to get to stuff on time," Oster writes. "Telling your 4-year-old child to hurry up and clean up your toys so we can have a bath is not the same as telling a sixth grader that if they don’t make the travel soccer team they can forget about a college scholarship."

"This form of hurrying occurs because the parents, through parental ego more than parental
need, want ‘superkids’, and therefore are attempting to teach their infants to read, to do
gymnastics, and more, at an age when they simply should be playing and enjoying
childhood," writes Pallavi Mangrule in the International Journal of Research in Paediatric Nursing.

Symptoms can manifest as physical (headaches, sleep deprivation, stomach ulcers) and psychological (anxiety, stress, difficulty socializing).

It's not just stress and anxiety that's an issue with hurried child syndrome. A packed agenda can also be an issue for your child's development if they don't have time and space for unstructured play and discovery. That sort of unstructured play time is important for kids, Eshelman says.

She recommends talking to your children about their schedule and what's most important to them. You can work together to cut back on stressors, if necessary.

And for your part, don't worry too much, Oster reminds parents. "Kids need things to thrive — a stable roof over their head, someone who loves them consistently, not being abused, having enough to eat — but they aren’t delicate orchids. Happy and productive adults have been raised with a lot of different parenting styles and approaches."

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