All About After School: 5 things to remember when it comes to sports, homework, screentime, and food.

1) Avoid over scheduling your child's afternoons. While after school sports and activities can (and do) promote healthy growth and development, having too many structured activities actually inhibits children's creativity and fosters anxiety. Children who have all of their after school hours accounted for learn to undervalue "being" and overvalue "doing." They tend to struggle with boredom, anxiety, and restlessness during periods of free time which has ramifications on both present and future well being. Consider scheduling "open time" in your child's afternoon to support her creativity, imagination, and soul development. She's had enough structure during her school day, so give her time to shine and move at her own pace.

2) Allow your child to complete her homework when she feels ready. Avoid power struggles by giving your child the opportunity to do her homework on her watch. Most parents want their kids to internalize a strong work ethic, and a sense of self-discipline and responsibility, so give them the opportunity by letting them choose when and how to complete their work. Consider giving your child a time frame in which to complete her work (i.e. "Anytime between now and dinner time.") and let her get creative about ways to complete it (i.e. drawing pictures of the story she just read; learning fractions through cutting fruit). Homework can be fun when your child believes she has a say in how it goes!

3) Limit screen time. As a parent, it's up to you to decide just how much screen time you want your kiddo to have each day. Keep in mind that TV, videogames, and websurfing overstimulate children mentally, and understimulate them physically...a recipe for classroom hyperactivity and attention problems. Think about it...if you grow accustomed to rich digital visuals and sounds effects, it is going to be a lot harder to find your science lecture all that stimulating, especially if you have a bunch of pent up energy! Consider substituting screen time for the aforementioned "free time" to give your child the gift of movement and technology-free fun.

4) Help your child make healthy snack choices. Your child's food choices and eating habits are largely influenced by your own. Take steps to model healthy eating and be aware of how your child responds to your lead. If you notice that your child is routinely craving sugary, fatty snacks after school, it could be a sign the she is experiencing some anxiety relating to school or the after school routine. If you suspect this is the case, spend some time snuggling, laughing, and connecting after school to ease her discomfort and then suggest chowing down on some carrot sticks and almonds.

5) Connect, connect, connect. The most important part of your child's day is the time she gets to connect with you. Your daily presence teaches her she matters, that she's loved, and will help her internalize the positive self-esteem necessary for establishing healthy future realtionships. The importance of quality connecting time far surpasses what she learned in school today, so utilize after school time mindfully. Your presence will make her day!