BAN BUSY
BUST THE MYTH THAT MORE IS BETTER
From the moment children wake up, their time is not their own.
Students today spend hours tied to a desk, afternoons juggling a barrage of extracurricular activities and nights
slogging through piles of homework. Studies show they’re overworked, stressed out and sleep deprived. And, yet, they press on because they’ve been taught that busy equals better.
WAYS TO BAN BUSY

Parents
Pick one day mid-week for no structured activities whatsoever. Replace it with fun, family activities like playing games, reading for pleasure or making dinner together.

Students
Take a look at your weekly schedule and ask yourself where you can scale back. Then select one mid-week night to do something you’re passionate about. Painting, dancing, cooking, surfing - it's your choice!

Teachers
Pick a day mid-week for less-structured activities. Try an open-ended project over another round of worksheets. Let students pick their own reading for a day. Skip homework for the night!

Schools
Pilot a mid-week night off. Secure commitments from parents, educators and coaches to have one night of the month with no structured activities (e.g. homework, practice, meetings) and no technology. Then bring your community together to share the impact. If it’s positive, try making a mid-week night off part of your school culture.

Coaches
At every other practice, invite your kids to spend part of their time in an open-ended way. Coach soccer? Try 30 minutes of free play over sprints. Teach piano? Let kids improvise or play a song of their choice over another hour of scales.
Help us inspire a culture shift by painting a picture of the #banbusy movement!
We want to see you building forts and baking cookies. Taking hikes and taking naps. Using
class time to tinker, craft and create.
Got great ideas and examples of how you’re banning busy? Take inspiring photos of how you're banning busy and share them on your Instagram, Twitter or Facebook pages using the hashtag #banbusy. Or share them on our Facebook page, and we’ll share them back out to the network.
Let's turn the BAN BUSY campaign into a true culture shift. Drive a new conversation about school / life balance in your community by hosting a Race to Nowhere screening. We’ll send you a free Ban Busy toolkit with all the materials you need to facilitate an active conversation about students’ time and inspire people to commit then and there to take action. People who sign up will also receive regular tips for banning busy in and out of school.
Got great ideas and examples of how you’re banning busy? Share them on our Facebook page using the hashtag #banbusy, and we’ll share them back out to the network. Send us inspiring photos and we’ll re-post them out to motivate the rest of our network!