Sign Me Up!: The Parents' Complete Guide to Sports, Activities, Music Lessons, Dance Classes, and Other Extracurriculars

Stacy DeBroff offers hope and help for parents with a child whose schedule resembles a Stanley Kaplan cram course. Sign Me Up offers a sane alternative, urging parents to use extracurricular activities to find a child s "sweet spot--and unlock their true potential." Her first step is nailing parent peer pressure. As she explains,"the question what do you do for work? has been replaced by asking what activities does your child do?" DeBroff offers wise counsel for holding your ground and choosing activities to help your child develop and mature, rather than packaging them for college applications. She establishes a balance between the goals of activity (discipline, self-discovery) and the value of downtime (spontaneity, self-motivation). Her advice features quotes from parents and coaches, and focuses on the details of hundreds of family friendly choices including lacrosse, chess, ballet, archery, drumming, and cartooning. Each activity is explored in terms of time, cost, competition and fit with a child s temperament and skills. Debroff also includes smart ideas about thorny issues such as how to be a spectator and what to do when your child wants to quit. This excellent book would have been strengthened with more details about volunteering and community activities outside of scouting. If after-school activity is about enriching maturity, DeBroff might encourage parents to sign up their children to help repair the world. --Barbara Mackoff