Know! To Balance Work and Play

Throughout the school year, children and teens balance schoolwork, extracurricular activities, social commitments, and other expectations. For some, a full schedule can be exciting and energizing; for others, it can become overwhelming.² As routines and responsibilities shift, it’s important to check in on whether youth have enough time for the things that support their well-being. To support school-life balance, caregivers can help youth create and follow routines that allow time for sleep, schoolwork, movement, relationships, and unstructured time.^1˒2

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1.Review the Schedule

Sit down with your child or teen and review their day-to-day schedule. Help co-create an organized schedule for school, homework, activities, meals, transportation, sleep, family time, friendships, and downtime.⁵

Extracurricular activities can provide valuable opportunities for friendship, physical activity, skill development, enjoyment, and self-confidence, but they need to be balanced with other demands and unstructured free time.³Instead of focusing on the number of activities, consider the impact of the whole schedule on your child's everyday life. Is there enough time for homework, sleep, family, friends, and free time?³ If your child is consistently missing sleep or meals, struggling to complete homework, withdrawing from others, or becoming distressed, their schedule may need to change.^1,3

Talking Tip: “What are you looking forward to during the week, and what feels like too much?”

2.Protect Sleep, Exercise, and Downtime

When planning academic and extracurricular activities, make room for rest, physical activity, and downtime. Sleep is vital to healthy development and helps support attention, learning, and behavior.⁴ Current recommendations for sleep include 9–12 hours of sleep per 24 hours for children 6–12 years of age and 8–10 hours for teens 13–18 years of age.⁴ Good sleep habits, such as limiting screen time and caffeine before bed, can also help youth succeed throughout the day.⁴

Movement matters too. Youth ages 6–17 should get 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day.⁷ This can include sports, walking, active play, biking, dancing, or other activities they enjoy. The goal is to make healthy movement a natural part of the day.

Talking Tip: “How is your body feeling with the new school schedule—tired, energized, tense, or somewhere in between?”

3.Help Make Schoolwork Manageable

Large projects and multiple assignments can sometimes feel overwhelming. Help your child build effective time-management skills to reduce stress by breaking down large assignments into smaller steps and using a weekly schedule to plan projects and other tasks. A distraction-free homework area, enough time to finish assignments, and tools like checklists or timers can also help.⁵

If schoolwork consistently takes up so much time that it limits sleep, meals, relationships, or downtime, talk to the teacher or school about what support may be available.

Talking Tip: "Could it help to break that project into smaller steps, make a plan together, or ask your teacher for help?"

4.Make Room for Connection and Joy

Balance also means making time for positive activities. Kids and teens need opportunities to spend time with trusted people, enjoy their interests, and have unstructured time. Stepping away from social media to connect with friends, family, interests, or hobbies can provide opportunities for relaxation and healthy stress management.^2,5,6

School connectedness also supports young people's well-being. When students feel that adults and peers at school care about, support, and value them, they are less likely to experience poor mental health and more likely to experience positive health and academic outcomes.⁸ Ask about school relationships and help young people identify at least one trusted adult or supportive peer at school.

Talking Tip: “Who at school makes you feel like you belong?”

5.Identify When Stress Is More Than a Busy Schedule

Even with healthy routines, balancing school, activities, relationships, and other responsibilities can be stressful.² This can be true even when we do our best to build productive and healthy lifestyles. Watch for signs that stress may be becoming more difficult to manage, such as ongoing irritability, withdrawing from activities they used to enjoy, big changes in sleeping or eating, frequent headaches or stomachaches, or growing difficulty with day-to-day tasks.^1,9

These signs are a reason to check in and consider whether additional support is needed.^1,9 If worries continue or interfere with daily living, consider talking to your child’s school counselor, school psychologist, or other qualified mental health professional.¹ A calm, supportive response from a trusted adult can help young people feel heard and make it easier to seek help.^1,9

Talking Tip: “I’ve noticed that things seem harder than normal lately. I want to understand what you’re going through. Is there anything that I could do to help right now?”

6.Do a Regular Balance Check

As routines and responsibilities change, check in with your child or teen regularly.² Try asking:

“What is going well this week?”
“What feels stressful or harder than expected?”
“Are you getting enough sleep and time for meals, movement, friends, family, and downtime?”
“Is there anything on the schedule you want to change?”
“Is there an adult at school or home you want more help from?”

Tips for School Professionals:

Balancing work and play is a team effort. School staff can encourage students to consider whether their schedules allow enough time for sleep, schoolwork, relationships, movement, and downtime. When stress starts to get in the way of learning or well-being, staff can help students identify trusted adults and connect families with appropriate supports in and out of the school.^8,10

Consider asking students how their current schedule affects their well-being, whether they have time to care for themselves, and who they can turn to when they need support.

The goal isn’t to create a perfect schedule, but one that gives young people time to learn, rest, connect, and enjoy the things they love. Regular check-ins and small adjustments can help make busy weeks feel more manageable and give young people the support they need to find a healthy balance between work and play.