Give me a break people!!!

This morning while enjoying my breakfast and morning paper I stumbled across an article concerning the troubling economy and child rearing expenses. The focus of the article was splurging on children and how much of that will/will not change due to the economic situation. IN discussing things like pricey strollers and name brand kids products, the expense of extracurricular activities came up. The subject of the interview for the report has a 6 year old and a 3 year old, who attend various extra curricular activities (such as Italian lesssons, Music classes and Yoga)... The following comment really got to me. Concerning the "need" for these activities the mom is quoted as saying "We do it for ourselves and we do it for our kids. Those things are really important when applying to middle schools and to make them well rounded individuals"!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK. Ok, I totally agree that extra curriculur activities make for much more well rounded people, especially when we are meeting a child at an interest level or bent.... but when dealing with young children these things are simple not NECESSARY to get a good upbringing. And come on... APPLYING TO MIDDLE SCHOOL!! GEE WHIZ people!!! Ok, I realize that I have a more simplistic, less-is-more mind set than many people and while I see nothing wrong with Extracurricular activities; having enrolled my kids in them as we could provide, to me this society is pushing kids too hard too fast. That is why so many of our kids come out of high school not really knowing what they want to do with their life.... They get scheduled out, pushed to excell, and burn out!! What happened to being a kid and learning to entertain ourselves.

In my experience, coming from a rather unprosperous single parent family of 6, Extracurricular activities, or rather lack thereof, did not affect the ability to do well in life. My siblings are all living very well rounded and happy lives. ONe brother in particular has held positions in management that far exceeded his age/education for a long time. He is currently working towards a masters and a VERY successfull father, husband and businessman. His extracurricular activities included pick up football, baseball and basketball games in the neighborhood and time and people management skills learned from living in a family of 6 kids (hey, he had to finagle tv time to watch his favorite sporting events, you can't get any more difficult time and people management than that!)Three other siblings have raised their families and been productive assets to society, working and doing very well on their own. My youngest brother manages police mentors in Afghanistan.... Which extracurricular activity did he miss that would have better prepared him for that?

I am not saying don't do extracurricular activities if you can provide them and they fit in the budget ect.. I am just frustrated at the mindset that we need to push our kids to meet "goals" that we have set. This is where identity directed learning means so much to me and where I wish more people had some knowledge or understanding of the way true education works...

Yes, the economy has called for some changes, and we have been hit by it as well as everyone else. We will have to discontinue horse riding lessons for our oldest two and dance for our youngest this year, and while that decision was a hard one because I know that there will be disappointment.. it was not hard in that I also know that we will find cheaper/free alternatives to fill those gaps and they will be just fine in the end.