I'm sure plenty of you have dealt with this issue before, or are thinking about it: how and when do we step in and let the kids know that they can't do everything and need to make tough choices?
I'm wondering about this because I can see that DS9's extracurricular activities will go crazy this fall. He loves lots of things and it will be hard to talk him out of any of those activities. This past year was somewhat crazy but he handled well. Given that his school days are so boring and almost all the excitement about learning comes from the after-school activities, I let him go for it. But it is likely that he will sign up for more this fall, and I'm uncertain what to do. In a few activities he is very advanced and the teachers/coaches do expect advanced kids to put in more practice. I see the value of these activities both in terms of intellectual development and character builidng. But I'm also one of those parents who really value leisure time, I think it's important for kids to daydream, to relax, to just play "meaninglessly". So I'm not sure whether I should let him go for the activities as long as he wants to, or whether I should restrict the number of activities that he can do from now on...
Suggestions?
