If your parents took you to do sports/ music / dance...was it worth it?

[upwardsandonwards33]

Or indeed if you have ferried your now older children to e.g ballet/ swimming / brownies/ instrumental tuition...
Do you think it paid off?
My dd are young but I can see that there will be more of this in the years ahead.
What did you get out of it all if you went to a myriad of clubs as a child or what did your dc get out of it (if they are now 16 yrs +)?

I think it teaches kids skills that they might not realise they need whether it be resilience, effort, focus, physical skill or anything else. Said as someone who didn't really get those chances but does enjoy giving them to my kids. I also like the idea that it gives them a social scene and interest into teenager-dom that is based around something focused and productive. I think that must be an under-rated side effect.

One thing not mentioned above (I think) is the value of having a separate social group, away from school. IMO that comes in very useful during the inevitable minor or major fallings out with schoolfriends.

I never did out of school activities and all my friendship eggs were in the school basket. I remember being envious of friends who had a drama group or church group or swimming group - it gave them confidence and a place to escape when there was some sort of friendship drama going on at school. All the more important during this Instafacechat era.

I will be encouraging my DDs to join something like a drama group for this reason (and because I think they will love it, they are little show offs born entertainers )

Exactly my reasons @minipie - scouts in our case

Totally agree about widening the social group. Very big benefit.

I think that's a really good point minipie

Completely agree about the widening of social circles. I did lots of dancing, swimming, Brownies etc and I believe it was great at building my confidence. My DDs do some if these things (and others too) and, as long as they are enjoying it, I am happy they are doing "active" things that will benefit their bodies and minds as they grow up. Pretty sure they won't ever earn their crust by doing them but who cares?

Re minipie's point, yes and no. I was the only girl in my brownie pack who didn't go to the local school. I definitely felt like an outsider and I wasn't allowed to give up for ages because it was Good For My Social Skills. It's only working if it's working, IYKWIM.

My DC go to a large state school and their experience is totally different, they see people they know at every activity, at the park, supermarket etc.

Well my parents never enrolled me in any kind of after-school / extra curricular activity and I do rather resent that I was never given that opportunity (there was no obvious reason why we weren't - SAHM and well-off so time/money weren't constraints).

By the time I got to secondary school and we could put ourselves forward for opportunities I did everything I could sign up for (drama, sports, choir, DoE, school play, school magazine, etc).

I wish that I'd had the chance to start earlier (for example I remember regularly being thrashed at badminton by kids half my age who had been in lessons since they could hold a racquet). I have no knowledge of music whatsoever, I would have love to at least dabbled with learning an instrument.

I think I was a bit of a shy and bookish child who might have needed a bit of a push to go to Brownies or similar. We had a piano at home and I recall my mum vaguely encouraging me to learn at home and I might not have shown much interest. But I really wish I had been given more of a push and encouragement when younger.

I agree that forcing DC to keep up activities they don't enjoy isn't beneficial, but providing the initial exposure and helping them overcome a bit of reluctance is important I think.

Watching with interest. DS is a fast runner, from a long line of fast runners and I was told by an Arsenal scout, as a skilful left footer, who was able to keep his pace whilst controlling the ball they wanted him to trial. He was 6, I declined. He's now a super star sportsman at school, Rugby A, Football A, swim squad, cross county. But he's not that academic and I do wonder if I made a mistake.

Fiscally, dd1 has found that both swimming and dance 'paid off' - she has a pt job as a Liguria which pays far better than any of her waitressing/ retail friends. She also teaches dance one night a week for a local dance school (tap, but she is also qualified to teach ballet if she wants to in the future). She's 17 and in her last year of school, will be off to uni in sept (is v academic but has a couple of better paid options for pt work to see her through uni). The rest of it (guides etc) has been brilliant for confidence and social skills - she has travelled extensively with virtual strangers as a member of girl guiding and taken part in youth parliaments etc. Her extra curricular synthetic biology club, where she has also travelled extensively, has triggered an interest she intends to follow career wise - so I guess that has 'paid off'.
Ds1 - he dances for enjoyment (just loves to move and flirt with the girls) and is now applying for lifeguard jobs to follow dd1. The real winner for him has been basketball. He is truly truly terrible at it, which has been fantastic. This is a kid who is smart enough to find everything easy, and he struggles with abject laziness. Just loathes to have to put any effort into anything at all. Enter basketball, which he adores, but he is truly terrible at. To find a group that he is willing to put effort into with absolutely no natural ability is worth its weight in gold.
Dd2 has cerebral palsy. The dance and sports she takes part in replace physiotherapy (without them she would be having regular physio) with the added bonus of a ready made peer group. Guides etc helps her socially. Life is always going to be pretty bloody for her (most of her peers are fine but don't go out of their way to be friends iyswim) so her extra curriculars take the edge off loneliness and allow her to experience different environments and different people. She is in a debate club. This is truly fantastic for her confidence (she has severe dysarthria so to speak in competition with nt peers is a huge deal. Sometimes she wins.
I can't think of any activity that any of the kids have done that hasn't 'paid off' in some way... but only some of them in fiscal terms...

Fuck knows what a Liguria is. Lifeguard. Sigh. Pissing autocorrect.

Fostered out of a children's home to a middle class family I was forced to take up an instrument, cricket, squash, rugby, bell ringing, cubs and scouts. Hated all of it, but the only saving grace was the scout splinter group me and my friends set up! I know my foster family tried but "you can take a horse to water.."

Out of school, I went dancing twice a week. I wasn't great, but I enjoyed it. My DM reached the point of being miffed that I wanted to keep it up but kept going until I reached GCSE years. The positives that that's given me through life is that it gave me the confidence to go to aerobics classes early in adulthood, and bodily awareness for yoga, so it's been a good foundation for keeping fit as an adult, particularly as I had no aptitude in PE at school.

Other things I did with school like choir and shows (chorus and backstage). The big thing from school was the DoE award. I got my Gold, and along the way learned to swim 25m, then built up to ASA awards for multiple skills and strokes. There was the independence of the expeditions. Because I mastered swimming at that stage in life, it's given me confidence to learn to ride a bike and to take up running. It lead to continuing walking at uni and meeting people who remain my closest friends many years on.

There's definitely been benefits into adulthood.

DS goes to swimming, gymnastics and Beavers. Beavers is a good all rounder for a range of interests. I think gymnastics will be a good foundation for any other sport as he gets older, and will give him more confidence in his use of his body and be more agile. I want him to have a strong foundation in a range of strokes, and be a confident swimmer in at least one. I want him to be able to enjoy swimming anywhere and feel able to take up any other watersports that may crop up on school trips/ uni etc.

I'm not expecting brilliance, just aiming to give him confidence to try new opportunities in life.

Not for me it wasn't, I started ballet and tap at 5. By 8 I was also horse riding and piano playing and part of the town swimming club. I didn't choose these activities and never enjoyed them. The only activity DD does is Brownies and I don't think she'll move onto Guides.

Another one for the chance of change in social circles. I did brownies, a maths club, and horse riding. Swimming we took ourselves and I'm now a good swimmer, no lessons. As a latch-key kid I wasn't ferried about, but was given money to take myself off to pay for the activities myself. Ingratiating into varied peer groups, having to politely address new adults etc have all be invaluable, I have lots of really different types of friends now, and am quite brave when dealing with authorities and address things as they arise. I remember getting my first period at brownies and feeling terrified, but just steeling myself, going out and telling good old brown owl. I had a good few accidents at horse riding, nobody batted an eyelid and my mum wasn't there, so I'd just get up and hobble back to the horse. Quite literally "back in the saddle". Maths club, well, I'm not brilliant at maths but I am good at problem solving and logical puzzles etc. So, I'd say the clubs were worth it, not to say I'm now a master-brownie, champion-rider-maths-whizz... but has had a more rounded effect overall. My own kids, I do take to just a club or two each, if there was more then I think it would have to be an activity that they all enjoyed and all went, im not doing extra ferrying! Mine do things that they love, that stretches them slightly, gives them a bit of a push but is not too hard on them. They all thrive in different subjects and the clubs are different too. It's nice for them to be with other like-minded kids, and to have the satisfaction of doing something that they're good at too. Don't go crazy though, don't stick them into clubs they have no signs of skill or interest in, there are some parents at school that sign their kids up for an endless slog of activity, that's always changing, but ever relentless. I know that some are doing a different thing per day - 7 days a week!

DD and ds have been doing a variety of clubs since they were very young.
DD is at college doing solely stuff that was part of her extra curricular activities and is doing some part time teaching. She earns in a couple of hours more than I earned in a month at her age. Infact both have done 1 day jobs that have earned them more money than I earned in a year and they have had a blast doing them

Music lessons. I had very little talent but I learnt a lot about music. I can read music and still play piano badly.

My son went to skating lessons which he loved and still enjoys skating. Also piano and guitar. His degree is music.

Both dcs learnt to swim very young and both learnt musical instruments. Ds still has lessons at 16 and enjoys playing but just for his own pleasure. Both also did defensive martial art. Ds still does and achieved black belt. He now teaches and gets so much out of that.
Dd discovered her passion at 11 and gradually everything else fell to the wayside. She now represents her country at u21s. It's been hard work for her especially through exams but she eat sleeps breathes it. No influence from me as I hated her sport as a child!
For me a have friends up and down the country from both dcs hobbies as do they. Sometimes I feel I never sit down and always have a pile of stuff I haven't had time to do and I never have any money, but I wouldn't change a thing our lives are enriched in many ways.

Absolutely

I had ballet and tap lessons from 3, jazz dance, gymnastics and piano lessons from 5, am dram/drama clubs from 8, singing lessons/choir from 10 and contemporary and commercial dance from 12.

I danced and acted semi professionally (largely amateur work but some paid) from 15 - 21 and I am now a performing arts teacher in a private school which means I can a) do something I love all day every day b) work full time as a single mum and c) give my children a great education for very little. I dance, act and sing as lifelong hobbies too and still perform at an amateur level sometimes. Piano is invaluable as a director, choreographer and choir mistress.

My 14 year old started ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics at 3, piano at 6, singing at 8, saxophone at 10 and contemporary at 11. She is now at a specialist independent school for dance and performing arts. She wants to be a dancer or musical theatre actress. If she makes it, great, it paid off. If she doesn't, she has a hobby for life and a choice of many other related careers if she so wishes. So it still paid off.

My younger children are currently on the same path.

Extra curriculars, rightly or wrongly, have always been my biggest priority for optional finances. Works for us.

Yes, it helped me to develop the confidence and self esteem that comes from being good at something. It's a shame when parents don't encourage their children: I remember going through a phase when I said I didn't want to go to my lessons, do I have to go etc. and I'm so glad my Mum encouraged me to continue as I've benefited so much from it. I'm proud that I always finished what I started and that mindset has spread into other areas of my life.

No, because I didn't want to do it. My DM couldn't understand a child who didn't like sports and didn't want to play an instrument. She put me into about 1,000 sports hoping that I would like one but I never did. Decades later I have no regrets.

Both DS' play sports and love it, but DD has shown no interest in anything like that and I'll avoid putting her in anything until she expressly says she wants to.

(The only one they don't get a choice in is swimming. We live in Australia and have a pool. They all started lessons at 6mo).

Interesting how many people have said their essential is swimming. Swimming lessons have never occurred to me, tbh. I see that as being as much school's job as English and Maths. Just where my interests are (or aren't!) I guess. School teaches music, drama and dance too but just not to a high enough level for me (even though I'm the teacher for a lot of it! )

My DC would be rubbish at swimming if I'd left it up to the school! They only do swimming for one term at their school (in year 3).

I'm glad they took me to swimming and skating lessons. It's nice to be proficient at those as an adult but not essential.

Riding, however, I thank them for that every day. My best friends, even now in my 30s, have been met because of riding. I will never be a professional and I am not naturally talented but I love owning my horses and the fact that I'm still learning. I can watch horses go around in circles for hours and not be bored. It's excellent exercise and it keeps me sane. To me it's worth every penny they ever spent, every 3 am morning to take me to a competition and every freezing hour spent in the arena all winter for lessons.