I would consider my husband and I to be bright and well-educated. We do not have sky high expectations of our kids. Neither one likes sports so I see no reason to make them play sports. Neither one has any interest in debate, theatre, model UN, rocketry, robotics, academic olympiads, etc., so they don’t have to do that either (just band/orchestra). One found a volunteer organization she enjoys, the other one hasn’t yet. We expect As and Bs (as long as some effort is put into the B), and Cs are acceptable if they are really working hard and not quite getting it. I don’t want to see a C because of missing assignments. One of my kids is treated for anxiety and the other for ADHD. Some days, just going to school and doing homework is more than enough.
D16 had no trouble getting into a couple of state flagships with a B+ average, a 30 ACT score and few extracurriculars and she’s perfectly happy with her choice. I consider an 18 year old to be an emerging adult who has her whole life ahead of her to find her passions. I would have supported her if she had wanted to take all the APs and do 7 extracurriculars, but I don’t think she’s a failure because she wasn’t the captain or president of anything or because she had to work hard for a C in some math courses. I guess people like OP must be judging me for not having good enough children.