My daughter does swim in the summer and dance year round. I think that doing many activities is great but not if they are to the point where they are feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. They need to have at least some free days where they can have some free time. Parents are becoming more and more competitive and some parents try to live through their kids by enrolling them in activities they never got to participate in as a child. Everything in moderation is key. I always ask my daughter if she is still enjoying her activities and as long as she enjoys them then she will stay enrolled. I don't push it on her.

When we homeschooled, I was thrilled to move to a community with a ton of kids because of the chnace it would give my kids to socialize in a non structured setting.  You know, just kids hanging out.

Didn't happen.  Every kid had an activity afterschool for every day of the week, and weekends were family catch up days for doing things that hadn't gotten done during the week.

There were basketball hoops on the streets, but very rarely did you see kids using them, or even outside at all.

Very sad!

I believe in the Hurried Child Syndrome. I also believe that their isn't enough emphasis on play. Play is an important part of a child's destressing. It is how they work out issues, and the world around them. The rule of thumb in our family is one structured activity on top of horseback ridding once they are school age. Right now my daughter is not in any structured activities. I know other three year olds that are in gymnastics 2 times a week, swimming once a week and princess ball. Some are in even more. Right now all Lilly's activities are family based (even ridding) and we do them together.

I think it depends on the age. At 4, my boys are only in swimming. I am hoping that once they are doing PE in kindergarten they will be exposed to different sports. Then we can ask them what they enjoy doing and they can choose.