Yes. We used to drive cross-country twice a year. Any time, day or night, if we encountered a rail line, he knew what rail line it was, what town was upline to the left and what town was upline to the right. He literally memorized that atlas.
I'm glad that he was able to parlay a childhood hobby into gainful employment.
I had a lot of childhood hobbies that didn't pan out so well. For example, I used to memorize scientific names of insects and other creepy-crawlies. Mostly I did this because I wanted to learn more Latin and they weren't teaching it in Catholic school. Also my father, a geologist, worked with a full-time entomologist in his office.
My parents allowed me more or less free hand in self-determination of hobbies and recreational activities, and this was detrimental to my growth and work ethic. If you're a parent, make sure that your children's activities are focused and directed to some meaningful end. Also ensure that they are properly motivated, encouraged, and supported in constructive things. This is the best way to form children who are good workers with interesting careers.
What do you think the cost was for you? Directing your kids hobbies strikes me as bizarre. I think they are something that should grow from interest. After all, they are hobbies, not a profession.
To be perfectly frank it sounds like your conclusion is an over correction.
Here's what happened. We were basically spoiled at home; parents showered us with books and tools and trinkets and all sorts of things that were so abundant, we didn't care about their value and we didn't have any time or attention to devote to them. Grandma babysat on Sundays and showered us with gifts that Mom and Dad wouldn't give: toys, clothing, electronics, and we got unstructured playtime.
Our schooling was stable but our extracurriculars were not. I entered Scouting, soccer, religious education, and all sorts of things and I was yanked out of them all, very quickly and unceremoniously. We never got an explanation of why we quit but it wasn't our fault and it wasn't our choice. So me and my sister became accustomed to this inconstancy and nobody cared about our development as well-rounded team players or good citizens.
I learned lots of science and technology at my dad's elbow, but what I didn't learn was his work ethic or devotion to family or other masculine qualities like that. What I did was by imitation and mimicry. Mom and Dad served us and did all the chores for us, so laundry, cooking, dishes, cleaning was either done by them or not done at all.
It wasn't until high school when I joined the band and found camaraderie, a sense of belonging, and achievement; I stuck with the band for all four years and earned awards there. It was a great loss when I graduated and couldn't continue as a saxophonist and I lost all the friends I'd gained. Band didn't really relate to my target career in IT and so it had to fall by the wayside (requiring a very expensive saxophone that the parents were unwilling to purchase, too.) So I entered college with zero extracurricular activities again.
I dropped out of college--several times--and I was impelled to accept a decent entry-level IT job during the dotcom boom, which launched a pseudo-career for several years. I was unprepared for that, and so I lost all jobs and I lost everything else too. Being accustomed to quitting and losing made these turns unsurprising but not any less painful.
So yeah, if you teach your children to stick around and build skills through hobbies, chores, and activities, then they will thank you for it later. If you continually yank them out of stuff, and treat them like hotel guests or pets, they will not develop a work ethic or an appreciation for the dignity of a job well done, and they will be set up for failure in life. I learned these lessons quite late in life.
