I think it is important for social factors to have a broad array of activities in youth. Swimming, tennis, horseback riding, sailing, music, skiing, camping, travel. My kid will never win a tennis tournament but she can play.

Now, in high school, she is specializing in her interests. And I think our experience with piano taught us to go with what she really wants to do. We were pushed to give her piano lessons at 3, we just put her in the group piano lessons, but they kept pushing. So we started at 4. And she loved to learn pieces but not the detail to get it exactly right. She loved being on the stage for a concert but not into the work. And you can say that many 7 year olds do not want to practice hours a day, but some do. Those are the ones that should pursue music. Not just because you have talent. And she did ballet since 2 and last year competed in a pointe competition but it took so much time and she was never going to be a ballerina, but it was an amazing experience for her to put in the work to learn Giselle and get it right. There wasn't any time for ballet this year. She comes home from the school and goes to the gym for 40 minutes to decompress and then does her homework. And she is trimming activities and focusing on the ones she likes. What constitutes a generalist? Figuring it out in grad school?