Many extracurricular activities are only available for students in good standing. For instance, if your child is on the football team, he may not be allowed to play if he runs into trouble with his academics or behavior. This provides an external motivator to keep your kid in line. If your child wants to participate in the activity he enjoys, he has to stay in line to keep himself eligible.
Students with a wide range of extracurricular activities will find that their free time has been dramatically reduced. A lack of free time also results in a lack of time to cause trouble. Every moment your student spends at rehearsal or practice is a moment he cannot be vandalizing property or conducting petty theft. Extracurricular stacking is good, but be sure your child is not overwhelming himself.
One of the primary reasons that many kids get in trouble is that they are simply seeking an outlet for internal frustrations. Children who provoke fights or spray-paint walls are usually expressing some sort of emotion for which they have no other outlet. An extracurricular activity can help your child express himself in positive and constructive ways. Aggression can be left on the football field and frustration can be brushed onto a canvas. If your child has outlets, he will get in less trouble.
When your child engages in an extracurricular activity like playing football or competing in an academic decathlon, he is forging a connection to both his school and community. This helps bolster his sense of community pride and builds a positive connection between learning and the student. Students with pride in their communities and schools are less likely to act in a way that would bring embarrassment or trouble to those organizations.