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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think most of us are in agreement:
It's nbd if you put your kid in 1-2 hours of math enrichment per week.  It's great if your kid spends much more time doing math lessons or contests because he or she loves it and wants to.  It's bad if your kid spends tons of time on math enrichment because you're forcing the kid.

Similarly, for sports, it's nbd if you put your kid in a low time commitment rec sport so the kid is getting exercise, even if the kid doesn't like it.  It's great if your kid is on a high level, time consumptive travel team because the kid loves the sport and wants to do it.  It's bad if you're forcing your kid to play on an intense travel team.

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While this may be true for some people, we hear way less vitriol about athletics.

No one is accusing travel team kids of cheating when they make the cut for varsity.[/quote]

So true. Serena Williams started tennis lessons for her 3 year old - how do the  anti-enrichment posters react to that I wonder[/quote]

There is a difference between enrichment and pushing. I have no clue how to raise an uber talented kid like Serena or Venus. I have no clue how you balance nurturing their obvious talent with their need to be a kid.

Personally, I think Andre Agassi’s dad was abusive. Early lessons, tons of court time, sports academy. Agassi has said it was harmful and that he hated tennis. His natural talent carried him through as an adult when his work ethic failed him. A fair number of the tennis prodigies end up distancing themselves from their parents because their parents were too pushy and involved. Tiger Woods was pushed too hard and has struggled as an adult. Look at the kid actors who have had issues.

There are very few kids who fall into this talent category as athletes. I seriously doubt that that the kids doing prep classes, math classes, tutoring to improve their chances of getting into TJ are i  this category. A kid who is academically Serena, Andre, or Tiger will not need TJ because they are in a different stratosphere and will be beyond TJ when they are that age.

I would bet that the majority of kids who are attending the sports academies do not end up playing professional sports. I would guess that many of them don’t end up at college with scholarships. Just like the majority of travel sports kids don’t end up with scholarships.

You are looking at the outliers to justify your desire for your kid to spend more time studying so that they can be more academically advanced because you think it is important.

I think that parents who are pushing kids in sports or academics are hurting their kids. Kids need a balance between fun and school, just like adults need to balance work, family, and relaxing in their lives. Supporting a kids passion is one thing. The problem is reading the lives of so many superstar kids you learn that the activity wasn’t their passion but their parents desire for their kid to be great. Sometimes that push works out and sometimes it collapses spectacularly.

Me, I am going to let my kid be a kid. Encourage him, let him do the extras that he wants, and make sure he is doing what he is suppose to do. He is a smart kid but he isn’t Einstein or Hawkings. I know he is likely to do well as an adult if he goes to his base school or the center or TJ. 
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You do you. Nobody’s trying to tell you how to raise your child. And you sure don’t get to tell anyone how to raise theirs.[/quote]

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