How many activities is too many?

[catcat9719]

Another thread got me thinking.

How many activities do your kids do Mon-Sun?

My niece has a club after school everyday except Monday and she also has one club on Saturday.

Some days she has two clubs in a day which is insane to me.

It depends on the child, the clubs, the parents, finances, other commitments, other children in the family etc etc. none can say what is too much.

None. Well, one has a 20 minute drum/ rock lesson once a week in school but that's it.

6-year-old . Mostly sports/dance
Mom - nothing
Tues - after-school sports club - 45 mins. Home by 4:30 for chill.
Weds - morning before school - volin lesson 20 minutes. Nothing after school
Thurs - recreational gymnastics - 1hr - home by 5pm
Friday - Rainbows 1 hr - home by 6pm.
Saturday morning - ballet for 45 minutes. Home by 9:45
Sunday - we go swimming as a family around 11.

Very hard to call as feel when i was a kid most kids didnt do them! Some might have done 1 thing once a week like a dance class or karate or swimming etc but most people i knew finished school and played out with friends after. It feels like a newer thing to have constant stimulation and activities on the go and i worry it doesnt give kids the chance to be 'bored' and learn to entertain themselves! I did grow up in a poorer area of the north east however in the 90s. So cant say how others lived. I dont want to become the old trope of 'back in my day' but you genuinely never see kids playing out now with thier friends and neighbours and i find it sad.

Oh dear, my 5 year old does one every day and two on Saturday 😂 TBF, most of the ones after school are immediately after school and at school (e.g., football). The only one I insists she does is swimming and the rest she says she really enjoys doing and wants to do. Most of the school ones are only a few pounds a session and since everything is term time only and we live really close to the school, she still has lots of time to chill out and just play at home with her toys, with friends, etc.

Lol, is your niece my kid? 🤣
She has something on every day except Monday and Saturday, with two things on Tuesday and Friday. I've always said my kids are free to pursue any interests and we'll facilitate it. She loves her hobbies and I'm a big fan of kids having the opportunity to try lots of things so they can find the things they really enjoy.

I was the same as a kid, had several hobbies I kept up throughout adolescence that were a great source of joy, friendship, discipline and many other positive things for me, and I got paid for coaching too! It never occurred to me my kids would be any different.

It totally depends on their age and also if it’s a passion they are deeply committed to or their parents churning them through things.

My 8 year old does 1 one hour activity once a week, driven by him. He used to do Beavers/Cubs for a couple years before this, but he stopped enjoying it, so we stopped and found something that was a better fit.

My 13 year old trains in a sport that she competes in at the national level. She trains 3-4 evenings a week, plus she has a PT job (related to the sport) and she works another 2-3 afternoons. So probably about 12-16 hours a week total. She doesn’t do anything else.

both my kids are out 4 nights and a Saturday

DC 1 -
Monday - free
Tuesday - one activity
Wednesday - one activity
Thursday - one activity
Friday - free
Saturday - free
Sunday - one activity

DC2
Monday - two activities
Tuesday - one activity
Wednesday - one activity
Thursday - one activity
Friday - one activity
Saturday - two activities
Sunday- one activity

None! My dc sometimes do a sport before or after school depending on what’s being offered that term but other than that absolutely nothing. I don’t think there is a magic number I think it’s more a case of are the children interested and is it having an impact elsewhere. Mine need downtime and time to recharge so a jam packed schedule would be a disaster. Other kids thrive on being busy.

My DC 2 loves to be busy. He can spend two full days at cub camp, then be out on his bike without a second glance

Most dcs we know do at least 5 activities pw (north London, prep school). The school runs quite a lot of them, and that's an easy way to do few clubs as it just means a later pickup (or sometimes early morning start). By year 4 many girls are doing a sport which demands 2-4 sessions pw, esp swimming, gymnastics, and dance. Our school has a lot of international families, so many of them do a language school in their native tongue. A lot of dcs have a tutor (once or twice a week) in Yr 4 & 5 as most of them are aiming for selective secondary schools. There are loads of clubs available here within easy travelling distance and it's a good way for them to develop a skill and see their friends.

If she’s enjoying them all and not too tired then it’s good to get variety.

My primary age children do 4 activities a week including swimming-3 sports and one activity like rainbows/beavers. On 2 days of the week one of them does end up with 2 activities, sometimes 3 if there are (fun) competitions for one of their sports. They are high energy kids and I prefer they did something structured after school, they arent in out of school clubs. I would like all of them learn an instrument but between juggling work and life we haven’t managed to make it happen.

Depends on the child. DD was doing swimming x2, running x2 and cycling x2, plus cubs and ballet when she was only 9. DS on the other hand at the same age did swimming x2, tennis x1 and cubs. They would both sometimes do some extra after school activities that the school ran. But these where only term time and changed regularly.

DD went a bit made when at college and even she admits now she probably did to much, but she was always a child who wanted to do everything.

As of next half term my 6 year old will do 3 activities per week (on different nights - no weekend commitments)
We are of the mindset that whilst he wants to do them and finances allow, we will facilitate, however we must keep one weekend day completely free as a family day.
My youngest is 3 and does 2 activities, both of which are in the daytimes of my days off work, evenings will no doubt get a lot more hectic when she starts school!

My daughter does 7 different things - piano, speech and drama, swimming (times twice a week), art class, tennis, netball and ice skating. It's a busy schedule but she's an only child and likes to keep active (and we like to keep her active!). She still has lots of time mooching around doing nothing much such as reading and drawing.

I don't have DC, but like your niece, my brother and I had to do one (or sometimes two) things every day after school, apart from Monday, and also had things scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays. I said that I wished that I hadn't had to do so many activities, and also that I'd had the chance to do art/music instead of endless sports. I was not a naturally sporty child.

My brother, on the other hand, wished that he'd done more!

DD9
monday football
Tuesday hockey, rugby and cubs (sports are before/ afterschool clubs)
Wednesday football
Thursday dodgeball
Friday judo (before school clubs)
saturday 2 games of football

DS8
monday football
tuesday cubs
wednesday rugby (after school clubs)
thursdsy golf
friday judo
saturday football match

they love all their clubs and I am happy to take them

Three on the same school day is too many.

Depends on the child. DC 1 does three clubs a week. DC2 does 6 during the week and competes pretty much every other weekend, dropped music & band a few months ago so things are a bit less hectic now.
As long as their school work or health is not suffering, I don't see an issue.

I just saw that thread and wondered the same! My DC are ND so we keep it simple. DD does handball though only 1 night a week instead of 2, and guides every other week. She rarely participates in weekend activities with guides because she's just worn out. DS goes to judo 1-2 times a week and has a paper round.

Dc 1 has plays a team sport, runs and swims as well as scouts. Dc plays 3 team sports, runs and scouts. We never seem to have a night at home but they are pushing to do it.

It depends what you count as activities. Mine are in after school clubs three days a week but those are at school and I just see that as paid wraparound childcare so I can work.

In terms of hobby clubs I tell DDs that they have to do swimming and one other. DD1 does swimming and karate, DD2 does swimming and Brownies. I feel like that's enough to be fair.

We try to keep weekends completely free so have never committed to clubs at weekends as we do enough running around on weekdays.

5 or 6 is ok.

1 son age 7.
Mon/Thurs - football training
Fri - swimming
Sat/sun - Football match

He has also asked to try Hockey and we will try and fit it in if we can! Summer he did golf and cricket too. It's full on, but he enjoys the clubs and we love watching him play. Football matches are normally at 9am , so we still get plenty of downtime on the weekends. He doesn't go to after school club so he also gets downtime immediately after school for a few hours.

Extracurricular activities have done the world of good for my son's confidence. He used to be so shy and socially awkward around children he didn't know, but he is like a different child now.