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I n days gone by, children used to roam outside playing until dark; now, “free time” has been replaced by the hustle of club sports, competitive cheer, ACT tutoring, and a hodgepodge of school-related club meetings.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, a sixth grader told me about her future career goals and the colleges she was already considering. Dreaming about the future is one thing; feeling pressure to map out your college admissions strategy at 12 is another. The pressure isn’t just on kids to succeed—it’s on parents to engineer that success. WHY ACTIVITY CULTURE IS TOXIC Childhood has become a race to stay busy. Many kids spend their afternoons bouncing between practices, lessons, tutoring, and club meetings, leaving little time for free play,
family dinners, or even enough sleep.
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 week because of their child’s sport sched- ule, 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 Activity Culture also cuts down 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. The survey also reports parents average over three hours per day on their child’s sport
MENTAL HEALTH Activity Culture can prove detrimental to kids’ health, despite the fact it’s supposed to make them healthier 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 There’s no denying youth sports many benefits. But when you overdo it, you might be surprised at some of the repercussions.
12 AUGUST 2026 | CINCINNATIFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM
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