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When I *would* worry is if it became so all-consuming that he's practicing constantly at home and refusing to do other things like play/exercise/enjoy just hanging out with your family etc.
Frankly, yes, this is a bit of an issue. We're an outdoorsy family, and these days there is a conflict between DS wanting to stay inside and play chess (and other games--he is very game-focused, so it's not just chess) and the rest of us wanting to hike and so on. I mean, it's not a major issue, and it may have been this way anyway due to him being slightly different in his preferences.
The one thing I do *not* like about my dd's being in a sport after school 4 days per week is it has changed the dynamics of family time after school. In some ways it's been good for our family - my older kids come home and do their homework and have time to just hang out. There's less chaos with that third child out of the house
OTOH, it plays complete havoc with our "family" dinner, which was important to me. We either have to let it go until late (which doesn't work for anyone else in the family - we would starve *plus* stay up too late after eating) and dd doesn't have anytime to just hang with her siblings during those days. Plus my dh either stays late at work so he can pick her up on the way home (which means less dad time for our other kids at night), or one of us has to leave home during after-dinner prime-time to pick her up, again, less parent time for the other kids. Looking at any one night, it doesn't seem like too big of a deal, but the many nights do add up.
I also like to get my kids outdoor to hike/bike/play/whatever. I think exercise is really important too. If my dd wasn't in an active sport, I'd probably not let her devote so much time to it each night.
We've also had to talk finances (in general, not specifics) with our dd. She would like to participate in competitive dancing, and we just can't afford either the travel or the private (extra) lessons that would be a part of it. Or the costumes lol! It wasn't an all-or-nothing type of thing, we just explained that (whatever) cost $, and we had so much $ per child we could spend on activities, and that meant we all had to make choices. We let her choose - she could have opted out of her 4-night-a-week sport entirely and focused on dance, and participated up to a certain point and that would have been ok with us, but she made the choice not to get more involved with dance, understanding that we just don't have the $ to go "all in".
polarbear
