Cookie-Cutter Extracurriculars

epiphany
Fri, 02 May 2008 22:48:53 +0000

Well, I don’t know that it is necessarily so bad to be competitive. For some activities, the competition is the fun, or part of it. Doesn’t have to be either/or. My children both competed at their e.c.'s for all the years of their involvement, and enjoyed them to the max. D#1 is still doing both of her own high-level e.c.'s, in college, while she made no statements to that effect on her apps.

I am glad I did not interfere by discouraging these pursuits. I could never have envisioned when they began these, that these would be college entrance advantages, but clearly they were, for both of them. But more importantly to me, the lessons they have learned, and the cultural enrichment gained, have enormously benefited them in many ways involving character and self-awareness.