Overworked and 'under played'? Ending kids' summertime blues

Anxiety, shame

Experts warned that over organizing children can lead to high levels of anxiety in the future, as they may struggle with downtime and feel pressure to be constantly productive.

"Being accustomed to being scheduled without breaks will lead to such individuals feeling uncomfortable whenever they are idle," said Jin Jin, a Shanghai Mental Health Center doctor. "They won't let themselves have any free time and feel unworthy, or even have a sense of shame, about enjoying it."

These children may also feel anxious that their parents will urge them to do something. "They can only follow in a passive way doing whatever they are told to do," Jin said.

The other extreme is that these children will eventually give up on developing themselves. In either case, they lose the ability to plan their own use of time, Jin said.

Huang, the doctor from Shanghai Huashan Hospital, said human creativity is actually a result of synthesizing different information in a person's daily life. "When seemingly in a daze, people will sort out all their knowledge and experiences of the day. When the brain combines these different elements, people sometimes have new creative ideas," he said

Psychological research shows that giving children free time in moderation is important for their development. When the brain is at rest, it does not really stop working, but begins to engage in another form of thinking — particularly about social cognition and self-reflection.

"Free time also fosters mental toughness and helps individuals bounce back from setbacks because they have the time to recover. This is a trait that people with free time have when they grow up, and it benefits overall personality development," Jin said.