With the lazy days of summer making way for the frantic pace of another school year, experts offer advice on avoiding overbooking children.

With the start of the school year, not only do classes resume, but so do sports, music lessons, dance classes and a myriad of other activities.

Dr. Dorothy Stubbe, of the Yale Child Study Center said that parents should make sure that their children are becoming involved in extracurricular activities for the right reasons.

"If the child has activities that they really love, they're having fun, they're happy, then that's a good thing. If they're in all of the activities because they feel in some way that they're being pressured to or that they need to be good at many things, then that's not as healthy," she said.

The dean of admissions at Trinity College said that parents should avoid guiding younger children into many activities with college in the back of their minds.

"It's probably most important for students to follow their own interests, not to sort of construct them with college in mind, but to pursue wheat they truly enjoy doing with the idea that, probably it will allow for the most development of their skills and also -- in the end -- I think, appeal to colleges," said Trinity Dean of Admissions Larry Dow. (More Advice From Dow)

Stubbe offered tips to recognize when a child is overbooked.

"Are they coming home from these things with a gleeful look and … are they really happy or are they starting to look stressed, tired? If you see the stress and the tired, you have them overbooked," she said.

Stubbe said that while some children thrive when participating in lots of activities, they still need downtime.

"I think everyone needs some time to not have to worry, not feel any pressure, to just, you know, be a kid," she said.

Dow said that parents must remember that the activities are extracurricular and to emphasize the importance of homework first.

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