UAE parents seek balance between success and happiness for children amid extracurricular overload concerns

Parents in the UAE are reevaluating how to balance children’s academic pursuits and extracurricular activities to promote well-being and resilience, emphasising individual interests over over-scheduling.

Parents trying to raise children who are both successful and happy often find themselves pulled in too many directions at once. In the UAE, where schools and clubs offer a wide range of activities, the challenge is not simply choosing the right sport, instrument or club. It is knowing when enrichment becomes overload. Research on extracurricular activities suggests they can improve children’s physical health, social development, self-esteem and mental wellbeing, but experts also warn that overscheduling can create stress rather than confidence.

For Trupti Gokhale, a professor at BITS Pilani Dubai and the mother of cricketer Siya Gokhale, the order of priorities is clear. “My child’s mental health and happiness are my biggest priorities,” she says. “Her career path, ambition and passion should form the core, around which academics, followed by sports and other extracurricular activities will revolve.” That view reflects a broader shift among parents who are less interested in producing children who excel at everything than in helping them find what truly motivates them.

Pyarilal TK, whose son Ankit is in Grade 6, takes a similar approach. He and his wife Amritha have encouraged football, drum lessons, painting and a strong interest in science, but only so far as their son enjoys them. “Children should not be pressured into pursuing a field simply because their parents favour it,” he says. That emphasis on choice is important: studies of extracurricular involvement note that children tend to gain the most when activities support their interests, rather than fill every free hour.

The danger of too much structure becomes clearer when children begin to show signs of strain. Trupti recalls a period when Siya was balancing board exams with international cricket commitments and was left tired, withdrawn and sleeping badly. In response, the family eased pressure at home and made room for rest and emotional support. Child development resources say that a balanced mix of academic work, sport, arts and play can help children build resilience, stronger coping skills and a healthier sense of identity.

There is also a practical lesson for families when school and sport collide. Trupti says academics remained non-negotiable, although flexibility from Siya’s school and the KHDA’s Rahal programme allowed examinations to be taken early when tournaments overlapped. Pyarilal follows the same rule: if there is a clash, the extracurricular activity is moved. Experts say that sports and other interests can teach discipline, teamwork, perseverance and emotional regulation, while still leaving room for academic priorities.

For parents, the message is not to do less for children, but to do better by them. A good routine should leave space for learning, movement, creativity and rest, while still protecting childhood itself. As Dr Muhammad Tahir says, “A child’s brain was never meant to develop through academics alone.”