What’s New
A grass-roots initiative of parents collectively reclaiming Sunday as a sports-free day.
Schedule balance into your week by reclaiming Sunday as family day.
Balance4Success at University of Minnesota
A group of students at the U of M adapts Balance4Success for college life. 
Talk About Balance
Ask a question. Tell us what you think. Give us your story.
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Family Mealtime
Countless studies show that regular family mealtimes are more critical for kids’ development than any extracurricular activities.
Youth Sports
Organized sports provide many developmental benefits-and lots of fun. But with play time overwhelming many kids' and family's lives, pediatricians and mental health professionals and youth sports leaders and educators are increasingly concerned that excessive involvement in organized sports can be detrimental to kids' well being in many ways.
Blog: On Balance
The Rat Race Is still running
Welcome to our website. This is a place to learn, talk and take action on overscheduled kids and underconnected families — ours and our communities, wherever the community may be. When we started Balance4Success just a few years ago we were alarmed at how busy our and other families in our community were. And we were concerned about the implications for our kids — stress, loss of connection, emotional and physical health and academic problems.
Our efforts have resulted in lots of great discussions about the issues. Many parents are reclaiming their authority to make thoughtful choices about what and how much they sign their kids up for. Even some kids are standing up and saying they need a break. Take a look at Balance in Action for some great stories of ways families have done this — and a few cautionary tales. Some people have become far more protective of family meal time — going so far as to miss an organized activity or two to reclaim this critical family "activity." Others have joined our initiative Taking Back Sundays to schedule balance into their busy family lives.
Still, we see tremendous stress on our kids, families and community as many try to keep up. Our work isnt done — but our success is dependent on your participation. If you are concerned about your family time or the impact of frenetic schedules and unrelenting pressures on your kids and community, snoop around and see if anything resonates. Tell us what you think. And consider getting involved. Overscheduled kids and underconnected families is a cultural problem that can only be remedied with cultural solutions. No rules, laws or edicts can stop this race. Only parents, families and caring community members — can slow the dangerous pace.
Balance For Success
Balance 4 Success is a group of parents engaging our community and families to replace busy-ness with balance to ensure kids’ success.
We base our initiatives on research on child development and interviews with educators, community leaders and most important, parents and kids.
Your Balance
Balance In Action
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One sister heads for burn out, the other sister opts out.
A gifted Minnesota athlete and top student practices swimming both before (starting at 5:30) and after school. She drops participation in one arts activity and one community service activity so she can focus exclusively on her sport and studies, which combined leave her with little sleep and plenty of stress. Her mother is concerned that her daughter has dropped activities important to her and that she is anxious and burnt out. The teenager’s younger sister has decided not to participate in high school activities.
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Parents and piano teacher work together
A long-time piano teacher requires all students to practice at home daily. Parents of one of her 6-year-old piano students talk with the teacher about a schedule more appropriate for their child’s age and temperament. Teacher and parents agree to lighten up on the practice schedule.
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Parent’s balance demanding sports
One baseball player was scheduled to play a double header on a Sunday. In between games, he was also supposed to attend a "mandatory " three-hour hockey clinic. The parents helped the teen choose to play the baseball games, but not go to the clinic. Other hockey parents initially scoffed at them. Yet, some later followed the family’s lead and choose to miss the clinic, too.
Balance In Perspective
What do the experts have to say about the importance of balance?
"The hectic pace of modern life poses a threat to our children second only to poverty and unemployment. The signs of this breakdown are all around us in the ever growing rates of alienation, apathy, rebellion, delinquency and violence among American youth."
Urie Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University psychologist and creator of Head Start
Finding Balance
Balance isn’t easy — but it IS possible. Here are some tips:
For Parents
For Educators and Community Leaders