You're right it is harsh, but, they didn't bring themselves to them. They didn't sign themselves up. I know parents that don't ask they just are bent on they kid being a sporting hero or a musical genius and put tons and tons of pressure on their kids to succeed. A whole lot of it really doesn't look like it is fun. And they are subject to criticism about how they performed and even yelled at for not measuring up to what they expected. We aren't talking about special situations here, we are talking about general childhood. You are taking this way to personal. Your kids are individuals, but, they aren't representative of all individuals. You were lucky, but, not all had that. There is a huge difference between being involved in that stuff for a specific solution to a possible problem or just because it is what is expected. I am not asking anyone to feel guilty about it. I have been expressing my feelings about how my childhood went and how fun it was to just have time to imagine and play. I realize today that electronics rule and all the free time that kids do have is to have a nose stuck in an electronic device or building up gigantic thumb muscles playing games on PS4's etc. I maintain that I had more fun they they are having. I never once said that they all turned out to be prison material, however, I wouldn't trade my youthful experiences for all the video games in the world.
I have a grandson that is 18 years old. Eagle Scout and avid gamer. He said, seriously, that he thought he should join the military because he was so good a playing war games on his machine (forget what unit he has, not really important.) He felt that he would be really good at killing "the enemy" because he was so good with that game. I pointed out that in a real war situation people are actually firing back. Different world, different times, but, that doesn't stop me from being happy that I never looked at life in that way at that age.
With my own girls, the approach we took was to try and provide them with whatever activities that they really felt they wanted to do. They played softball, basketball, figure skating, both took piano long enough to have a number of recitals, that that hated, One decided to sing in an acapella group called the Madrigals the other decided to learn how to play the trumpet. None of the activities they took carried over into adulthood. They were experimenting and if they were showing a complete lack of interest in something, this wasn't a matter of life or death so they could leave it whenever they wanted too. No pressure from us. Well, I shouldn't say that because the piano stuff was quite expensive and they both begged to get lessons. The provision was... OK, but you have to stick it out for one year. No quitting because it is difficult. One lasted up until the day that one year was reached, the other went another year. Every person is different and I still remember being that age and coming up with a zillion things that I thought would be cool. Marching band, absolutely having to have a Cocker Spaniel then losing interest, then having an absolute life altering need for a Pedigreed German Shepard named Sheba. I worked my way through what seemed like thousands of interests, but, most of them were accomplished at home and many in my own imagination.
PS... the animals both went to good homes where the owner paid attention to them. So don't call ASPCA.