week because of their child’s sport schedule, and “slightly more than 1 in 10 families (13.2 percent) eat five to seven meals out per week” for the same reason. Not only is it important for children to eat healthy, it’s even more important for young athletes to eat well in order to prevent injury, help muscles recover, and improve their energy levels. Family Health Another way Activity Culture robs your family is by cutting down on family time. Getting the kids where they need to go is a game of strategy, and most nights it’s a “divide and conquer” parenting situation. In fact, the 2024 National Youth Sports Parent Survey reports parents average over three hours per day on their child’s sport activities, with over an hour of that devoted to attending practices and competitions. “Oh, it’s just for a month or two,” you might say—except the same survey also found that over 20 percent of parents have a child that participates in scheduled practices or competitions in their primary sport 9 to 12 months a year. Aka, all. year. long. How Sports Convey Status Let’s be real: There is a legit “elite” status connected to youth sports—both for the kids and for their parents. When recalling her children’s introduction to sports, author Linda Flanagan writes in Take Back the Game , “It wasn’t long before I started noticing how athletic ability, even among elementary school kids, conferred prestige. For though it goes unsaid, physically gifted children do indeed gain status, as do the humble parents who brought them into the world.” But the status isn’t just conferred because of skill level—it’s also usually a measure of the wealth a family already possesses. Unfortunately, that status comes with a hefty price tag. The Financial Weight The 2024 National Youth Sports Parent Survey reveals that families in the sample spent an average of $1,015.64 annually on their child’s primary sport—and approximately $475 on their child’s other sports. Bill Lennon wrote in his 2017 article for Medium , “The average cost to participate on a travel baseball team is in the ballpark of $1,900, not including the actual travel costs for players and parents to attend tournaments.” Needless to say, it’s not cheap to participate in one sport, much less in multiple sports. It’s becoming harder than ever to resist the pull to overcommit your kids. After all, the youth sports industry only continues to grow, making Activity Culture the norm—and to resist is countercultural. For example, The
Achievement Kids & Activity Culture:
When Success Becomes a Source of Stress
BY JULIANNA STEEN
I n days gone by, children used to roam outside playing until dark; now, “free time” has been replaced by the hustle of club sports, competitive cheer, ACT tutoring, and a hodgepodge of school-related club meetings. If you feel like a full-time, unpaid Uber driver for your kids, you’re not alone. Today’s children have full-length resumes before they have driver’s licenses. Just last week, when I was talking to a 6th grader, she brought up her future career goals and potential colleges she could attend for her intended major. It’s one thing to think about your “dream job” at 12 years old—it’s another to seriously consider what you need to do to be admitted to college at such a young age. You don’t have to look hard to see that the pressure is rising—and social media is only compounding the fears that drive many to over-achieve. The pressure isn’t only on kids to succeed, though; it’s on parents to engineer that success. Why Activity Culture Is Toxic Nowadays, if you want to hang out with a middle schooler, you’ve got to get on their calendar weeks before, or find a rare open window on a Saturday afternoon—between Bible studies, gymnastics, lacrosse practice, baseball games, and more; every hour of their schedule is filled. It’s practically become a competition between kids to see who can be the busiest and most “accomplished.” After all, busy = well-rounded = successful, right? Yet as the pace of life speeds up, it seems the important things—like unstructured free play, family
time (including eating together!), and sleep—seem to fall through the cracks. Not to mention the damage overscheduling does on children’s mental health. Mental Health Turns out Activity Culture can actually prove detrimental to kids’ health, despite the fact it’s supposed to make them healthier little humans. An article by Mindset describing a 2024 study correlates an excess of activities and homework with anxiety and depression in kids. “There’s a point where a child could still boost his academic skills by doing another hour of homework or tutoring,” writer Jill Barshay explains, “but it would come at the expense of mental well-being.”While it initially proves beneficial for the child, this overworking ends up “making students more anxious, depressed, or angry.” But Activity Culture affects more than mental health—it also leads to less healthy eating habits. Physical Health I’m not arguing against youth sports—there’s no denying its many benefits, including teamwork, communication, resilience, and maintaining a healthy body. But when you overdo it, you might be surprised at some of the repercussions. For instance, the 2024 National Youth Sports Parent Survey by Aspen Institute reports that over 35 percent of the parents in their sample “believe that their family’s youth sport commitments contribute to less healthy eating habits.” The same study reveals that most families (56.3 percent) eat two to four meals out per
14 AUGUST 2026 | NOLAFAMILY.COM
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