IStock Photo 10031639 © Judy Barranco

Dr. Spock he was not. But the famously obscene comedian George Carlin did offer up parenting advice on a track of his 2008 comedy album, “It’s Bad for Ya.” There, in characteristic bleep-worthy style, Carlin ranted about the dangers of filling children’s agendas with play dates and activities. Kids don’t need play dates, Carlin insisted. They need yards. They need sticks.

Do today’s American parents agree with Carlin? Or do they sign their kids up for every last activity, from test prep courses to underwater basket weaving? To some extent, the answer depends on the child’s age.

From kindergarten through second grade, many kids don’t attend any after-school activities. Only 1 in 58.17 kids this age participates in club activities, and only 1 in 36.36spends time engaged in extra academic work such as tutoring. More kids (1 in 4.04) get started with after-school sports early on. Still, kindergarten sports activities can resemble the kind of unstructured play Carlin extolled: children running around, kicking a ball or maybe each other. Other popular activities for young children include scouting (1 in 11.19), religious activities (1 in 7.09), and art or music (1 in 6.93).

As they grow up, many kids have more after-school structure. Not too many students between third and fifth grade participate in a club activity—only 1 in 19.01; more kids this age (1 in 14.26) use some of their free time to volunteer. For sixth-through-eighth graders, the odds increase: 1 in 11.66 kids participates in a club, and 1 in 7.29 volunteers. By the time they reach high school, the college race kicks into full gear. That’s why an elite high school kid who opts out of the full suite of afterschool activities makes the news.

Carlin wasn’t the first to raise alarms about overscheduled children. In a classic parenting book “The Hurried Child,” originally published in 1981, psychologist David Elkind helped kindle a growing anxiety of modern well-to-do parents: am I doing more damage by enrolling my kids in activities or by failing to enroll them?

The fear is that a kid heaped with too many extracurricular responsibilities could become overwhelmed and over-stressed. On the other hand, an under-scheduled kid could get into trouble, instead of engaging in wholesome organized activities. Parents are also afraid that their kids will be left in the dust, whereas highly programmed children will be more successful.

Of course, this over-scheduling debate applies only to families who can afford it.

During hard economic times in particular, many families don’t have the money to fill their kids’ time with costly self-improvement activities. While some tots attend pre-K test prep classes to secure a place in elite private schools, many kids count themselves as lucky if they have a safe place to play.