Is your child burning out from overcommitment?

When 13-year-old Amber Watson leaves Mason Middle School every weekday, she heads straight into hours of back-to-back sports practice: First soccer, then basketball, then futsal, one after the other. "She loves it so much, she would volunteer to stay and play another (futsal) game from 8 to 9," Maria Elena Watson, Amber's mother, said. "I'd love to take her out of some of them, but it's impossible because she looks forward to it." Amber's day begins at 5:45 a.m. and ends at around 10 p.m. Each of the hours in between is jam-packed with activities. Although her mother said Amber enjoys every one of her commitments, not all children are so enthusiastic about having a full plate. Overcommitment could be one of the reasons millennials report higher levels of personal stress than any other living generation, according to Dr. Edmond Hooker. The psychological effect that occurs when a child is too busy is called burnout. "Every kid is different, so burnout to one kid might be heaven to another," Hooker said. "It's whenever they are beyond what they can handle." Children might not tell their parents directly if they are experiencing burnout, but the signs show up in the form of an irritable attitude, slipping grades or long-term fatigue. In those cases, Hooker said, it's often up to the parent to begin the conversation and ask their child if they feel too busy. "As an emergency physician, you see kids that are completely stressed out," he said. "A lot of times, if you can get the parent and the child to start talking again ... that's the key. Open those lines of communication, and you'll fix the problem." More than 70 percent of students reported stress interfering with their ability to perform in school, meaning burnout is a widespread problem. But not all. If your child is happy with a wall-to-wall schedule, Hooker said, that's OK, too. Stay as busy as you want -- as long as you remember to eat, sleep and care for yourself emotionally.