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Balance Between Structure and Spontaneity

by

sisters: Adrian , Canada

While some structure and planning is essential for life to run smoothly, you can go overboard with it and become too rigid. There’s something to be said about being spontaneous and childlike.

Planning every minute of a child’s activities is not good for them either because they won’t find it very easy to entertain themselves when they finally do get some time alone.

This doesn’t mean everyone should become irresponsible but maybe more flexible. Every child is different so will not react the same to ongoing structured activities.

Two of my children for example are like night and day. One would thrive being on the move with lots of people around because of being extroverted. The other is introverted and would tire of the crowds and noise much sooner, and may prefer to go home and read a book. Neither is better, just different.

Examples of being too structured and rigid

  • Refusing to stop for an ice-cream because it wasn’t scheduled that day.
  • Spending the whole weekend cleaning and not taking time to play with each other.
  • Not allowing a child to ever get dirty by playing in the sandbox, playing with chalk, climbing monkey bars etc.
  • Taking the same route home just because that’s the way you always go.
  • Refusing to stop for a minute to look at the flowers and/or bugs with your kids.

Operation GameI’m sure we can come up with more but for now, I have a game of Operation to play.

If you would like to read some more about indoor games, Erinn at Parenting Children has a good post on Indoor Fun to combat cabin fever.


Posted in General on January 5th, 2008

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6 Responses to “Balance Between Structure and Spontaneity”

  1. Globally Green Living » Blog Archive » Get Out for a Green Hour Says:
    January 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    [...] outside for an hour of unstructured time with nature. I was just mentioning that kids needed more unstructured play time and then I came across this Green [...]

  2. Pages tagged "Spontaneous" Says:
    January 5th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

    [...] online community. The best part is … it’s all 100% free! check them out here: Join Hey Nielsen! Balance Between Structure and Spontaneity saved by 1 others     sandman2343 bookmarked on 01/05/08 | [...]

  3. Artists Passion » Blog Archive » Time compromise Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    [...] Williams of Parenting Under the Stars blogs about balancing spontaneity and scheduling. Though it’s aimed at parents, the advice is [...]

  4. meghnak Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 7:05 am

    Hi Sandra,
    Thanks for your visit to my blog. You have a nice blog about parenting. Actually it’s good for me too as I know if or if not I’m a good child! My mom and dad read this blog too! Keep writing!

  5. Sandra Williams Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    Meghna, thanks so much for the encouragement and stopping in. You keep writing also.

    Waving at your parents. :)

  6. Ellie Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    How can I stop Blue Jays from chipping the paint off of my house ?

Leave a Reply


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