The 10,000 hour thing is a bit of a myth, but I get your point. I also question what life might be like if instead of doing what we do at school early on now, we learn how to learn instead, then start learning the content. Having good process in place before learning bad habits, means being able to learn the right thing from the get-go. It is the "perfect practice makes perfect" approach, rather than random practice.
I am definitely far from skilled in so many things, after a misspent childhood, teen years, young adulthood, adulthood... :D
Some stuff is not necessarily seen at work as you can get experts in chess, swimming, running, lego building, and so on. Still aligned with a good childhood. I never felt more proud than when I beat my that on one of our weekly/monthly games of chess.
Yes, this is the case. I also think that learning the "right things" lead to more learning. There are skills learned from chess for example, that can aid other aspects of life. I question how much core skill kids miss when they spend all their time on phones. Spatial awareness? predictive skill? The ability to visualize? What is affected and what are the ramifications later in life?
My idea for my kids is to learn a faster reading course - this will save hours if not days of your life, and then fast learning techniques. To start with it.