{"id":110762,"date":"2022-08-28T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafemomcom.bigscoots-staging.com\/blog\/why-parents-need-to-chill-about-kids-extracurriculars"},"modified":"2024-09-02T12:58:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T12:58:04","slug":"why-parents-need-to-chill-about-kids-extracurriculars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/parenting\/why-parents-need-to-chill-about-kids-extracurriculars","title":{"rendered":"Why Parents Need To Chill Out About Their Kids Doing Extracurriculars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The message popped up as I scrolled through the posts on Facebook group for mothers of teenagers. In the middle of a general freak-out about her son starting high school, a mother launched into a three-paragraph panic attack about the fact that her kid \u2014 who she described as bright and a good student \u2014 wasn't really doing the whole extracurriculars thing<\/a>. She explained that while she was glad that he was on the school soccer team, she worried that it "wasn't enough" and it might jeopardize his chances of getting into college<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the replies to her message, countless other moms chimed in with advice (often misguided), echoing her anxiety that extracurricular activities are a make-or-break part of the college application process<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After reading about 50 of these messages, I couldn't contain myself any more. After I established my credentials (I have a doctorate in higher education, I've worked in higher education for over 20 years, including as an admissions counselor, director of student services, a faculty member, and a college vice-president), I made a simple plea: Parents, please chill out when it comes to pushing your high school students to do extracurricular activities! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The message popped up as I scrolled through the posts on Facebook group for mothers of teenagers. In the middle of a general freak-out about her son starting high school, a mother launched into a three-paragraph panic attack about the fact that her kid \u2014 who she described as bright and a good student \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"nota_seo_page_title":"","nota_seo_page_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85,95],"tags":[1939,8154,1598],"featured":[],"internal-tag":[],"series":[101],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Parents 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