To think it my be to much for my 7 year old

[justme135]

My DD has just started year 3.
Her extra curricula activities have just doubled kind of by accident.
She does swimming and gymnastics and asked me if she could go back dancing with a bit of juggling I sorted it and she would do it one weekend day and one week night and that seems ok.
However she has been selected to be in a special show so will have a night a week rehearsal for that. She has an after school dance club that she has signed up for both of these are only until the end of oct. She has also asked her nan for music lessons for her birthday which means another night at classes. She will only have one weeknight and one weekend day off from clubs and will have homework to do etc.
I feel it's too much but she doesn't want to give anything up and I want her to have all the opportunities to experience different things but I do worry it may be to much!
How many extra activities do your DC do? Is it too much?

My DD has also just started year 3. She does swimming at the weekend and gym, cubs, jazz and tennis during the week. Also after school club once a week when I work late. I agree it's a lot but she enjoys them all and seems to cope ok!

I feel bad. DD is allowed no more than 2 after school activities per week. And I desperately strive to keep Saturday mornings free for cuddly lie ins watching Saturday Kitchen in bed.

My dd has just started yr 4 and does Gymnastics for 3 hrs Mon and wed, Swimming on Tuesday, Brownies on Thurs, Gym on sat morning.
She thrives on the activity and has done this for a few years.
However my other dd is 5 and does drama for 1.5hrs on mon, gymnastics on wed and that it she likes time to chill at home and relax.
So it depends on your child.

It would be too much for some but not necessarily for her.

It's a short term thing. Let her do it all, keep half term free for recovery, let her drop the school dancing or something if she wants to later. Some kids do 15 hours of gym or swimming training a week. It is punishing and wouldn't suit everyone but it works for some people.

My 7 year old does judo, swimming and horse riding (although the swimming is on hold temporarily whilst we are on the waiting list for another pool) during the week (fortnightly for horse riding) and she's about to start Brownies. She also plays violin - lessons at school but practice most days at home and she's part of an ensemble every other Saturday in term time. She likes doing lots of activities and also doesn't need as much 'down time' as my other two so I'm happy for her to continue with her activities.
DD2 (who is 6) does judo, swimming and horse riding too but needs loads of down time so sometimes she'll miss judo (as that is in an evening as opposed to straight after school). She's desperate to start gymnastics, and I'm sure she'll be very good at it but I just think it would be too much for her. We've compromised and she's starting recorder lessons (in school) this term instead because that's almost exactly the same as gymnastics

I think if your daughter seems ok with doing all those activities, and it's not affecting her school work or sleep, then let her have a go. You can always stop them if it gets too much!

Oh, and just to add, we do NO activities during holidays as they all stop during that time - apart from horse riding but we just put those on hold for the hols. This means that the holidays are a complete break from everything, which I think helps a lot with battery recharging.

It sounds like an awful lot to me.

DS1 is 7 and just gone into Year 3. He has Swimming on a Wednesday, Football every Friday night, streetdancing Saturday mornings and now the football season has started will be having football matches most Sunday mornings.

He has three weeknights free, and most activities are only an hour - excepting Football matches. But I still feel that it might be a bit much.

He's currently begging to go to Gymnastics because he wants to learn how to do backflips to incorporate into his dance class...but there has to be a limit somewhere.

My DD is the same age, she does a weekly swimming lesson (will have a weekly swimming session with the school now too), gymnastics on one evening and Beavers on another. She'll be doing music lessons at school too and occasional after school clubs. She's keen to do drama lessons too.

Tbh, I don't like to do too much; partly because of expense and partly because I value other time with them. We spend a lot of time hiking/splashing in rivers/doing other activities though so not just sitting at home. She's very energetic and needs to run around lots. DS (5) is very different and very chilled. He just does gymnastics and not keen on anything else.

My DD is going to be 14 before x-mas. Since she was 3 she has done loads and loads (we have been regularly busy after school every night except 1 and at weekends too). Plus after school clubs.
Luckily for most of this time, but DH earnt a good wage to pay for it all, cos none of it is cheap.

DH now not earning so much, but much is free in secondary. Last school year my DD did 12 regular activities a week. (around half were school based).

I think there are LOADS of opportunities for kids these days, and I don't blame the children for wanting to grab those opportunities. I also suspect you aren't going to "shine" at any of them unless you specialise, but if you want to enjoy and have the capacity to do so, then you should grab every opportunity you can.

But try and feed in some "chill time" in pjs in front of the tv, cos they need that too!

I did lots of activities as a child, piano, violin, recitation, drama. swimming. and i remember lying awake at night worrying about forgetting where i was meant to be when, especially at christmas when there were shows etc and that was in the days when we never had homework. I think its a lot of stress on a young child.

I think I will let her do all and just see how bit goes if it gets to much then she will have to stop a thing or two. A couple of things are only until half term so the term before Xmas will be a bit lighter. They also don't do a dance show for Xmas but do it may/June which I prefer as it's less stressful at Christmas and we like to enjoy it rather than rush around.
Minicaters - we have a holiday booked for half term so she won't have activities then and I will make sure we include down time.
I'm not worried about it being stressful for her because she doesn't need to remember where she is going and what she needs for each thing as that's my job (lucky me).
Gymnastics isn't competitive but just a class for fun so that's easy to stop and start if she needs a lie in on a sat morning.
I'm not to concerned with her 'shinny' I just want her to have fun with what she does and at the moment she is but I have discussed earlier bed times as she may need it.
Thanks I feel better about giving it a go now

8-9yo DD did up to 10 activities a week. She was fine, I was the one who got a bit stressed. I feel pleased if I can get the DSs to attend even one club/week.

Maybe let her do the activities and wait and see how much homework she actually gets. Some schools give hardly any in Y3.

If it all gets over-the-top, you will soon find out, as she will groan when it is time to leave to house to go to the activity and take ages getting ready for it. As soon as your dd starts finding excuses for not wanting to go you will know she is doing too much!

7 year old dd does gymnastics and brownies and 5yo dd does gymnastics, rainbows and swimming lessons. Those activities take up 4 days during the week and I'm trying to keep weekends free for as long as possible!