I was appalled when James was about seven years old and I was talking to another mom, whose son, who was a year younger could only practice soccer on one certain night because all of the other kids on his team also played football, and they had practice FOUR nights a weekand games on either Saturday or Sunday, leaving one night to practice soccer and one day for a soccer game!!!! This was ridiculous - they were six and seven years old. That meant that all the boys playing both football and soccer were practicing a sport every single night. Unbelievable to me!!! I remember when I was in HIGH SCHOOL and played volleyball. We had practice every day after school, but we could not practice long on Wednesday and there would never have been anyone who even considered having anything on Sunday. Now, I was in the midwest and it was 18 to 20 (writing that makes me feel old) years ago, but Wednesday and Sunday were reserved for church if you attended or family if not. I think we do way too much to pull our kids away from the family too soon. I also have another friend who made the decision that their child was not going to play football until he entered junior high and there was a school team. People said he would never make the team because all the other kids had played for so much longer. He was a great player and started for the team. I don't know that it necessarily matters if you play organized sports when you're young as long as you learn rules and just play. We can get out there and play with our kids and teach them as much as they can learn on an organized team. Or they can join their friends and form a team - anyone seen Sandlot - fabulous movie, especially for those of you with boys???!!!! We have always had a rule of one organized sport per child per season. Even at that, our schedules are crazy. In our old town, when soccer and basketball overlapped, James and Jason had to make a choice. I think it was good teaching for them, too. That has been our decision and what is best for our family!!!

How much is too much for the kid? How about how much is too much for the parents? LOL My son is in T-ball right now and it's 3 times a week.  He has one weeknight practice, one weeknight game and one Saturday game.  As long as we still get to have quality family time, homework, playdates and getting enough rest.. I'm ok with it. But I think it takes way more of a toll on my husband and I, (and my 3 year old) than it does him. He's having a blast.  But since everything is occuring at dinnertime, it completely screws up that routine, which can get bothersome after awhile. We also don't push any acitivities on him and only once did we have overlapping sports. But that was during the summer so we had all the time in the world!  I do think a lot of parents are just WAY too pushy about getting their kids into everything. I know a just turned 4 year old that is in dance, gymnastics and soccer all year long --- that bothers me.

I can relate to your p.o.v. when you say that you want him to try everything so that he can pick what he likes. I have said that myself often. 

Been reading about a new book called

Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children From the Culture of Hyper-Parenting

.  Here's an

interview

with the author. It's an interesting take on the whole "overscheduled childhood" thing.

 

I think I'm going to go with the one activity per child rule. I don't want to be constantly shuttling kids around to different activities.