you don't want the HS/college aged kid just being "relaxed" all of the time. Just my opinion...
I guess my question here would be, why not? Didn't the kid already "earn" downtime by all the work in school/homework? And especially as they get into high school, it seems this would be even more pressing. Sure, you want your child to find passions. But if it doesn't come from within, if it's just "activities" for the sake of activities, it's really just more obligation, not fun, right? And then doesn't that perpetuate the lack of opportunity to FIND the kid's true interests?
As for the H.S. kid. If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes I might not have agreed with NotSoGifted. Counselors & school administrators kept lecturing that the kids who are involved in H.S. activities do better emotionally & academically and are less likely to take drugs, drink or get into trouble. We were told it could be any club or extra activity be it Math club, Latin Club, Sports, Marching band, Theater, start your own club. Doesn't need to be many things, can be just one. And it can be something outside of school (it's just outside things tend to dry up) just something other than school academics.
I did push both kids to get involved in something. DD got involved in theater, and DS17 does marching band and is involved in a Robotics club. I'm convinced marching band kept DS from turning into a surly, non-compliant depressed teenager who hated H.S.
Problem is homework takes up a huge amount of time. So it's tricky to balance the extra curricular, schoolwork and finding downtime. But if my son didn't do his extra activities he would probably just fill it with goofing off on the web & watching videos.
