After school activities - DD age -12 year 8 . How many ? What does yours do?

[Charliescar]

My daughter used to have lots of activities after school , they were run by the school and we paid for her dance lessons once a week.

Now because of Covid , there is only one after school activity for her after school a week.

She says she doesn’t really like dancing , but she has been going since she was 3 . I am concerned that if she has no interests after school she will just come home and watch tv and sit on her phone .

What and how many do your 12 year old DD do a week ?

Mine is a ds but my 12 year old does piano and in non covid times he does chess club and sports club.

one sport & one musical instrument.

My 12-year-old daughter does gymnastics (hopefully restarting in a few weeks), piano, clarinet, and choir (currently online). Pre-Covid she also did a dance class on a Saturday but there’s no sign of that resuming yet.

It does feel very odd without many clubs running, there seems like an awful lot of spare time to fill!

Yes- I am worried if she stops doing activities , she won’t want to restart them .

She also does a 3 hour drama school on Saturday morning

No organised ones. She hasn't since year 3 or 4! She comes home and either draws, does some crafting (mostly needle felting at the moment) for a while or takes her bike to the park with a few friends.

At 12 mine started reducing hers as it was getting too much with homework. She was doing swimming x 3or4, Guides, drama, archery. Swimming is the main one now, she's 14 now and back to 5x a week.

None. I have asked them but they don’t want to do anything and prefer to have free time.

I think it depends on the child. Some need downtime and crafts etc and won’t get distracted on the internet. Others need to be kept very busy or else they go neurotic on WhatsApp/social media etc. My DD is in the latter camp so she still does loads- 2 instruments, choirs/orchestras (yes some online), hockey in bubbles, tennis 2-3 times a week, some drama. We pay school fees so some clubs still on just in year group bubbles.

Scouting and a sport for all mine plus can do an instrument at school if they want. Some sports are once a week, others a couple plus occasional competitions.

Mine does Guides and a Saturday club and one physical activity a week. That's plenty for her. She needs downtime at home.

I have another child who is an introvert and really hates too many structured activities. He would rather read and draw and play his instruments. Go for a run/bike ride. My very extrovert and active Dd needs clubs though - otherwise she tries too hard on social networking sites which then actually make her unhappy/think too much/not sleep well. In structured activities she is active and meets others in a productive way. I suppose it also depends on their friendship group. If they are lovely and go for bike rides etc together then that would be free.

My nearly 13yr old DD does nothing.

Before COVID she did one evening at a video production school but doesn't want to return now they are re opening. She loved it for 18 months pre COVID. 🤷🏼‍♀️

We moved to a new area 2 years ago and before that she did ballet and horse riding every week but when we moved she didn't want to do them any more either.

It's a tricky age.

DD has something each day but hers are now all later in the day so it gets easier to sort out homework and relaxation.

She does 3x drama school, sounds more complicated but she enjoys the single lessons more than the block of 3 hours we tried previously.

She swims, rides and is a Scout.

All but swimming don’t start prior to 6pm, some not before 7pm, and riding is on a Saturday.

I think she will need to re-think some when she goes into Y10 next year and more studying is required, so far the level of work is manageable and I prefer her to be active than sitting down with her laptop or phone watching YouTube.

None! She's 12...she's been to ballroom, gymnastics, Brownies, drama and never stayed at any. Gymnastics was all she really enjoyed and she did that for only a year.

She likes to come home and chill out...she doesn't only go on her screen though. She draws or gardens with me. Also sees her friends..they do what 12 year olds do! Makeup and skateboarding.

11 year old - dance/ballet, plus ballet associates, five days a week. She decided to drop gymnastics, so that has now gone.

Musical instrument is during school hours, so not extra curricular as such.

Dance classes at the main studio resumed end of July, though there was no break in these throughout lockdown thanks to Zoom.

Y6 so a bit younger. She loves to be busy and scheduled and was a lost soul when everything stopped! She does 1 hour of drama, 1 of ballet. Then 45 minutes choir, 30 minutes singing lesson and 20 of an instrument. She then has to do singing and instrument practice 4 or 5 times a week plus any prep work for drama or choir plus school homework of about 2 hours a week.

I can see there will be a time when she might have to cut back, but hopefully by then she'll be ready to. Right now she wants to add another dance class 🙄