Balancing after school activities and downtime

Learn about: Balancing after school activities and downtime from Betsy Brown Braun, MA,...
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Balancing after school activities and downtime

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How many classes your child takes, how many after school activities your child participates in is going to be different for every child. The important thing is knowing your child and knowing your child's limits and knowing your child's levels and knowing what your child is really going to take advantage of and learn from and what is just being busy. The reason I say that is because children need downtime. It is in downtime that children learn much more than you could possibly imagine. Downtime is when our brain is working, when we're absorbing all of the things we may have learned in all of those classes or in school. So in deciding how many classes your child should take, how busy your child should be, the question you should be asking is: Does my child have enough downtime? Are there moments when he knows how to entertain himself, when he has to take care of himself, when his creativity can emerge, when he can be a resourceful person? Because too busy is not good busy. If the child isn't having the opportunity to be creative, to think, to absorb what he's learned, and to let down from all of the input that he gets all day long.

Learn about: Balancing after school activities and downtime from Betsy Brown Braun, MA,...

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Betsy Brown Braun, MA

Parent Educator & Author

Betsy Brown Braun, best-selling author of both Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents and You’re Not The Boss Of Me: Brat-proofing Your Four To Twelve Year-Old, is a child development and behavior specialist, parent educator, multiple birth parenting consultant, and founder of Parenting Pathways, Inc.

With over 40 years of experience in public and private early childhood and elementary education, Betsy has directed and founded school programs, taught in both public and private schools, has been a school director, and was the founding director of Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Early Childhood Center. She holds an MA in Human Development and teaching credentials from Pacific Oaks College.

In 2001 Betsy founded Parenting Pathways, Inc. to provide guidance to parents seeking the skills and confidence needed to negotiate the often-challenging parenting pathway. She leads parenting groups, seminars, and offers private parent consultations throughout the nation.

Her bestseller, Just Tell Me What To Say, in its fourth printing,presents the tried and true tools her clients use daily to handle situations that inevitably accompany raising children ages two to six and beyond. Her second book, and second bestseller, You’re Not The Boss Of Me: Brat-Proofing Your Kidsalso in its fourth printing, is the ultimate hands-on guide to cultivating character traits that are tried-and-true "bratbusters." 

Betsy brings her vast knowledge, sensitivity, and special brand of humor to her parent consultations, to her groups, and to her presentations.

Her parenting expertise has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Cookie, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, In Style, Parenting, Parents, Pregnancy and Newborn, Twins, Woman’s Day, and Working Mother, among other publications. She has shared her expertise on the Today Show multiple times. Other television appearances have included The Early Show, Good Morning America Now!, Fox & Friends, Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil,  The Talk, Entertainment Tonight, KCBS, KNBC, and Fox News LA. She contributes to KNX news radio on child development, and has been a guest on countless radio programs nationwide, including NPR. She writes for and has been cited in numerous websites and parenting blogs. Betsy is a frequent speaker at educational conferences, schools, and businesses.

Betsy and her husband Ray Braun are parents of adult triplets.

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