When did middle school children’s activities get so bananas? Travel teams, pro style uniforms, traveling overseas, non-stop fundraising?
Remember Babe Ruth and pee-wee baseball with iron on numbers on t-shirts? Now they wear the same uniforms as the pros.
Why promise kids that if they earn enough through fundraising that they can go overseas? What’s wrong with taking a 4 hour bus ride to NYC? A big city is a big city, believe me.
Good Morning Gloucester 
I couldn’t agree more. And also, instead of cutting arts and music, let’s not have multi-million dollar turf fields. What’s wrong with a grassy open field for multiple purposes? I got many a skinned knee playing football with my brothers and survived.
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Amen to this. Please rant some more about how crazy everything related to childhood is now. Kids are like mini-adults in every way, no more childhood.
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I completely agree with this and think it is a worthy effort to voice concern. In a time when we are all struggling with budget issues, and we continue to abuse the earth’s resources, why can’t simplicity and fun be the more important values taught to the children, as opposed to “high style” and “the best that money can buy”? What exactly is it that we are teaching our kids from all of this? (If my kids were still that young, I wouldn’t allow them to go Europe anyway) I agree with Joey – a 4 hour trip to NYC sounds awfully exciting to me. So does a trip into Boston to the outstanding Chihuly exhibit at the MFA. I would bet that any middle school child would be thrilled to see that – it’s better than fireworks! I also agree with blackswanbeth…arts and music are just as important as sports.
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It isn’t just sporting teams.
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You are right. It isn’t just sporting teams.
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I agree! They pile too much on the kids these days and I believe the more simple we make their lives, the better. That said, although I am a VERY avid traveler now, when I was little my parents didn’t see the need to go further than NYC and I really would have loved a school program that would have helped me take an overseas trip sooner than I did (summers during college)…so for that one I say GO GO GO! Some don’t have the travel bug, but no need to stop those who do, right? š
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I’m pretty sure I know exactly what you are talking about. Went to a fund raiser for the kid of a friend mine Friday night because he is a friend of mine. 2 of my nieces got recruited – er – nominated for the same trips. As you said – NYC ought to cover the bases! Or even Montreal if you need international.
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