ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Children these days have so much to do that they barely have time to be children, and although parents want their children to get into the best schools, many experts say this kind of overscheduling is unhealthy, reported WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

From the moment her mother picks her up from school, 8-year-old Katie Henshaw is on the go. The first stop is home in Alexandria, where Katie grabs a quick snack and changes into her Tae Kwon Do uniform. Then it's off to Master Yang's for an hour of punching, blocking, kicking and jumping.

"I like the way you test for higher belts and you get more skills," said Katie, a second-grader.

When Katie gets home from Tae Kwon Do, her speech tutor is waiting for her. That lasts for an hour as well.

After dinner, Katie practices piano with her dad for a half-hour, and then it's homework time.

Many child experts believe children who have schedules like Katie's are exhausted.

"I think that the culture in the United States is to push people until they drop, and now we're doing it to our children," said Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, a leading expert on overscheduled children.

Rosenfeld, the author of several books on child overscheduling, said that in the past 20 years, unstructured children's activities have gone down 50 percent, family dinners have declined 33 percent and family vacations are down 28 percent.

"Kids get burned out," said Rosenfeld, who has a private psychiatry practice in New York City and in Greenwich, Conn. "The last thing you want to do is to have someone going into high school who is sick and tired of doing so much that they're tiring academically."

Experts also believe overscheduled kids suffer physically as well emotionally because their workload stresses them out but they don't want to disappoint their parents.

"We see more stomachaches, and kids get all kinds of fancy workups to see if they have an ulcer," Rosenfeld said.

But Katie said she has a handle on her schedule.

"I'm really good at math, and I'm really good at it all," she said. "So I just do it every time at night, and I'm done in a flash."

Katie's mom makes sure her daughter gets plenty of playtime and family time. Ann Henshaw said the key is to know your kids.

"As I stay at home, I know my kids well," she said. "I know their moods. I know sort of what makes them tick. So if there's a day when they're not up for something, we don't do it. But generally for Katie, she's ready to go."

Katie has boundless energy and thrives on activity and seeing her friends. But she is the exception, not the rule.

"I'm looking forward to the next day," she said. "I'm like, 'What am I going to have tomorrow? How exciting is it going to be?' It's pretty fun."