Reply to Parents with 3+ kids and 2 full-time jobs, how do you do it?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
For those of you thinking it's easier as the kids get older, not true.

At least, not if you want them picking their favorite extra-curriculars, the ones they're good at and which might reflect well on them for college apps. College admissions have become extraordinarily challenging, and sometimes the activity your kid excels at is far away and smack bang at the same time as your other kid's activity.

I don't know how you can ferry multiple kids across town in the afternoon every day while working full time. There are threads every year asking for drivers for such tasks!

It's FINE to register them all for after-school soccer, if that's all you can do. But just know that others with fewer kids or more free time or more drivers will have a leg up on giving a more individual and customized lifestyle to each child.[/quote]

PP - some of us intentionally *avoid* a “more individual and customized lifestyle” for each kid.  We’re raising kids to be productive citizens of a *society*, not individuals who live in a bubble.  We’re also not obsessed with kids going to a very specific subset of colleges.

I’m not advocating at all for additional kids, but I do think it’s worth considering that this level of added pressure isn’t actually healthy for children’s development.  [/quote]

NP. It’s that “society” you are talking about that has created the academic and extracurricular pressures in the first place.[/quote]

In some parts of the country, yes.  People buy into this line of thinking that you have to optimize every aspect of your child’s existence or a terrible fate will befall them.  Many people don’t realize that most of the world doesn’t live like that and also that you can choose a more sane path and still have a great life.  You can actually choose something different for your family - keeping yourself (and your kids) in the pressure cooker is a choice.[/quote]

I’m referring to the society that rewards the outcomes of a graduation from a particular set of colleges. Yes you can make a life outside of them, but that society you want to contribute to absolutely recognizes the achievement of that pedigree education whether your child pushes to be accepted or not.[/quote]

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