Comments

• Penny Hastings, CA 12/10/08

  Nowhere is the pressure more extreme than on the student-athlete who is expected to excel in the classroom as well as on the playing field, plus doing community service and whatever else they can fit into their harried schedules. Alan Davids makes a very good point. It's hard not to pressure kids to succeed when the colleges themselves seem to want more and more from the student applicants. However, there are thousands of colleges and universities in the U.S. Most kids will get a sound education from just about any one of them. What makes such a pressure cooker for kids is that they (and their parents) want them to go to the most elite. In athletics, too many parents and kids feel that the NCAA Division I schools are best. Not so! They are perhaps the most sports competitive, but many other schools have excellent athletic programs and top-notch academics. Students (and their parents) should open up their searches and stop pressuring themselves (their kids) to strive for the most well-known or prestigious schools.

• Marria Marris, Falls Church, VA 12/03/08

  MM 12/03/08
  
  When I read the title to the article, I thought it was about "Taming the Overachieving Monster," instead, it was about taming the parent. I have an overachieving kid that we need to tame because she takes on too much and creates stress not only for herself, but also the family. We have actually had her drop some clubs, because she takes on too much. The area we live in drives kids to do this and her school does also, she attends a public math and science and technology high school. We are the ones reminding her she needs time just to be a kid or to play a video game if she wants to!

• B D 12/03/08

  What about the parents who are trying to guide their child, that is getting good grades in school, to try new things and occupy their time with activities other than gaming and tv?
  The kid does not want to be seperated from his games therefore he would say he is doing things he does not want to do.

• Alan Davids 01/07/08

  I read all the time that we’re pushing our kids, but the system is what’s made us all crazy. With so many high-priced colleges narrowing the field to the cream of the cream of the crop, what’s a parent to do? Our daughter and son (sophomore and junior) just started thinking about what schools they might want to apply to, and they’re busy joining everything to try to get “cred” on their resumes. I don’t see any way around this unless the colleges change their expectations.

• Linda Vandermeer 01/06/08

  This article implies it’s the parents who are overachieving. But the way I see it, it’s the kids. My sons and daughter are pretty accomplished and brilliant and I’d like to take credit for it, but really, it’s their own doing. They’re into everything… academics, sports, community service, and that makes me very proud. I don’t see anything wrong with being what I call “well-rounded” and ready for college.

• Ann Davis 01/04/08

  My daughter is a nice, normal kid. She does her work; she reads a lot; she goes out with friends. She is, for some reason, not caught up in this overachieving frenzy, and I’m kind of curious to see how this attitude helps or hinders her college application process. She has told me that she might want to take a year off after high school to work in the real world because she’s so sick of the testing and competition. I think she’s a lot more realistic than most of her friends.