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Rarely, but I'm not sure whether it's because kids are not trusted to be on their own or because his schedule is kept full by his parents. Comparing my nephew at any age to myself at that age I certainly had way less structured activities scheduled to keep myself busy. All my free time would basically be either me playing on the computer/watching TV on my own or playing outside unsupervised (or very loosely supervised) with friends. Sometimes I guess I was also being an annoying little brother watching whatever my brother was doing. By contrast, my nephew is driven from sports training to playdates every weekend.
I was born before the 90s, and went on my own walking to and from my elementary school every day, at 6 years old. It was considered a normal thing back then.
I like to think I turned out fine, but I'm conflicted as to how I will want to raise kids if I have them, because my own upbringing goes against both "old" and "new" rules. I was allowed to be on my own and wasn't really "kept busy" by my parents the way kids nowaday are, but also I was an early "screen junkie". My parents had barely any control over the time I would spend on the computer, and I certainly could go on full-day binges.
Same, in the 80's, I walked about a mile home from school in first grade (though I got a ride to school). That year, we moved to only about a half mile from the school, and I never got another ride to or from school until my friends were old enough to drive.
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What came first, the chicken or the egg? Were structured activities a way to occupy a child who could no longer legally be left to his own devices?
We assume it's college-track related, but college admissions don't ask about elementary-age activities and most reasonably healthy kids can start a sport in the sixth grade and make Varsity in High School, there's not much advantage to most sports to start at age 4. Music lessons and certain sports on the edges are the outlier here (ballet and gymnastics for example.) But then again, my brother started band as a teenager, taught himself the piano, and away he went. Not every pianist needs to start at the age of 2.
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