"Some activities just aren't right for (certain) kids. A parent who's regularly attending an activity can see whether the child's enjoying it," Dr. James Brush says.

Some parents force an unhappy child to stick with an activity because they're concerned that to do otherwise will teach the child to be a quitter.

"I don't buy that," Brush says. "I think you say, we tried that, it didn't work. Let's go on to something else."

A different scenario involves a child who wants to quit an activity after a discouraging experience.

A young baseball pitcher, for instance, might talk of quitting after giving up the home run that costs his team a game. A parent who knows the child has previously enjoyed the sport would want to discourage that line of thinking, Brush says.

Whether the activity revolves around music or sports, it's important that parents not be too overbearing, Brush says. "These are intended to be fun and growing experiences for the child. I think a lot of kids want to give up because adults get kind of compulsive about it and start making it not fun."

John Johnston