Anonymous wrote:Op, you sound like my neighbor who thinks HER way to parent is the ONLY way to parent. She takes huge pride in her kids barely doing any activities and looks down on me as a parent for having a kid that WANTS to be busy and asks to be at her one chosen activity all the time. Yes, she's there 5x a week. Yes, that sounds insane, but it's truly where she's the happiest.

My kid plays tennis 5x per week. His peers at his level all play much more than he does. He has friends who swim daily year round or play ice hockey at 5am before school. My friend’s daughter stopped going to school to focus more on her sport. To me, that seems extreme but they are really good at what they do. My kid is also very good at tennis but I don’t expect him to be a college recruit. His coaches all say he should be able to play tennis in college. We will see.

We know rich folks who themselves are not very impressive and their kids also are not very good at anything either. They are the ones who hold up their noses and call others strivers or try hard or whatever. That is now how I want to live nor the way I want to raise my kids. I always encourage my kids to try their best.

I don't even get OPs beef. She said kids need to be bored but also her kid has no one to play with. So, kid is probably bored. Isn't this what OP wanted?

Op, you sound like my neighbor who thinks HER way to parent is the ONLY way to parent. She takes huge pride in her kids barely doing any activities and looks down on me as a parent for having a kid that WANTS to be busy and asks to be at her one chosen activity all the time. Yes, she's there 5x a week. Yes, that sounds insane, but it's truly where she's the happiest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

You're free to do it your way. Good luck with that too.

We live in an affluent neighborhood full of achievers and also slackers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

You're free to do it your way. Good luck with that too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

Wut is your recipe for your lazy trust fund kid 🤔

College doesn't even matter because they are just going into the family business. Clearly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

+1. Also, we live in a culture of more. More activities, more money, more vacations, more everything.. being busy is the norm and you have to be busy and keep your kids busy to fit into this culture.

As a kid who grew up with less, I don’t think less is more. I was a child of poor immigrants. I have 3 kids and I try to give them as best of a childhood as I can. I try to give them a well balanced life. I give them exposure and let them try new experiences. They do well in school, play sports they enjoy and have many different hobbies and interests.

In my home country, the kids can only dream of the lives my kids enjoy. I won’t apologize for taking advantage of the American dream. In just one generation, Dh and I went from poverty to having a seven figure HHI.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

Wut is your recipe for your lazy trust fund kid 🤔

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

+1. Also, we live in a culture of more. More activities, more money, more vacations, more everything.. being busy is the norm and you have to be busy and keep your kids busy to fit into this culture.

I don’t go through TSA to get on planes

Anonymous wrote:This is not the norm everywhere. Whatever is going on in the dc metro area is uniquely miserable. Move somewhere with a better culture

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

+1. They are all sheep. Copying each other. Hoping their kid will find something they love by keeping them over scheduled and not letting them get bored. Good luck.

My child is in 6th grade and chooses his activities. He adds and drops as he sees fit. No one in our household thinks he is going to college on an athletic scholarship but he enjoys playing rec sports so he signs up for rec sports. He loves Scouts so we do Scouts. That really picked up when he moved from a Pack to a Troop, so much more to do in a Troop. He loves it. He loves math and does math competition class and a regular math class outside of school. I am expecting him to drop the regular math class after this year but I figured he would do that the last few years and he asked to do it again so what do I know?

He has time to hang out with friends. He goes to someones house or someone comes here a few times a week. He reads at home and has time to be bored.

Different kids have different needs and wants. Different parents have different needs and wants. Do what works for your family and don’t worry about mine.

I’m wide awake

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm very surprised at the amount of ppl who are ok with kids being overscheduled and don't see the downsides of it.

Middle class striver mindset. They think all the elementary sports and instrument lessons will set their kids up for elite college admissions as long as they stick with the instrument and sport through high school. And because everyone in their small orbit does it they think their kids are at a disadvantage if they don't do it too. Truthfully, the HS activities that stand out the most are having a part time job and school service stuff like newspaper, yearbook, and student govt. These soccer-piano kids are a dime a dozen.

UMC and UC kids play instruments and sports. You are right. This isn’t enough to get into an elite college. We all know this.