I think there is a difference between allowing your children to take advantage of oppertunities in life and sacrificing for a 'dream'.

I would encourage my kids to take full advantage of every oppertunity (just as my parents did), but there needs to be a balance in life. If when they are old enough to have finished school and have the talent and the desire to persue a career in sports I would fully support them. However when they are kids, sports are a PART of life - not all of it. They would be allowed and encouraged to develop their sporting talents and compete at all levels - BUT not at the expense of family or schooling (or even recreation). I think that that is a lesson we all need, because it is not healthy to be so obsessive with ANY one thing.

If you sacfrice EVERYTHING for your child's 'dream' - how much pressure is that!!! Every child has a dream to be a famous sports star, actor, musician - some may actually become so in their lives, but a vast majority go on to have other dreams that either replace or live on in conjunction with the first dream. Also you can still live with a dream of becoming a competitive sports person (fullfilling that dream) and not dedicate your entire life and the lives of the rest of the family to do so. You can acheive greatness and satisfy a passion AND have a life.

Furthermore, just because it is a child's dream and you do choose to sacrifice everything for that dream succeeds, what happens if the truth is that although your child is good, they may never be the best - they may simply never be able to fulfil that dream because their talents and skills simply aren't enough. Simply longing to be something, does not make that so; even with the best coaches, the most willing and dedicated student and the best of everything - average skill and talent may remain just that.

Sacrificing EVERYTHING (or even just ALOT) just makes you another stage mum, and in my opinion there are anough of those already in the world.