LONDON -- Life for Cathy Hagner and her three children is set to permanent  fast-forward. Their full school day and her job as a lawyer's assistant are busy enough. But Hanger also has to take the two boys to soccer or hockey or basketball while dropping off her daughter at piano lessons or Girl Scout Club. Often, the exhausted family doesn't get home until 7 pm. There is just time for a quick supper before homework. In today's world, middle-class American and British parents treat their children as if they are competitors racing for some finishing line. Parents take their children from activity to activity in order to make their future bright. It seems that raising a genius has become a more important goal than raising a happy and well-balanced child. "Doctors across the country are reporting a growing number of children suffering from stomachaches and headaches due to exhaustion and stress," says child expert William Doherty of the University of Minnesota. Teachers are dealing with exhausted kids in the classroom. It's a very serious problem. Many children attend after-school clubs by necessity. But competitive pressures also create an explosion of activities. They include sports, language, music and math classes for children as young as four. "There is a new parenting trend  under way which says that you have to tap all your child's potential  at a young age; otherwise you will let him down," says Terry Apter, a Cambridge-based child and adolescent psychiatrist . "It isn't entirely new: there have always been pushy parents. But what was previously  seen as strange behaviour is now well accepted." The writer's opinion about after-school clubs is that   _  .
activities in the country are too competitive children should attend four clubs at a time some clubs result in competitive pressures clubs should have more subjects for school children