DC extra curricular activities?

[NoPlaced]

Sorry, posting here for traffic but I was on another thread about extra curricular activities and was really quite taken aback at how much some people do, it must be really expensive and take up a lot of time.
Currently:
DS15 does rugby both in and out of school but both are free.
DD12- does art and football with school but has tennis lessons once a week for £5
DS9- does football with school for free but has cubs for £6 a week and swimming lessons (£60 annual pass).
I think I'm paying about £430 a year, which sounds like a lot to me. Older children take themselves to activities while either me or DH will take DS 9, which isn't too bad.
Is this a normal amount and the other thread was an outlier or do others spend lots of time and money on this?

Bridget, my dd actually reads loads! Yes, she does a lot of dance and drama, but on the other hand, she isn't a gamer and she barely watches any television. It's just personal preference.

Personally, I couldn't keep up with a schedule of activities like my dd has, but that level of activity suits her very well. I suspect that it might have a lot to do with the fact that she is much more extrovert than I am and she thrives on that time around other people. I think the exercise also does her the world of good. Her dance teacher had to cancel some sessions last year due to illness, and although it meant she had a lot more free time for a couple of weeks, I really noticed a dip in her mood and an increase in her stress levels.

I guess we're all different! OP, if your kids are happy with what they're doing, I think it's fine!

It all depends on age/interest/time and money available!
I used to do 3 main hobbies as a teenager and because I'm was pretty serious about all 3 it was more than enough (judo/horseriding/piano). It was probably a bit much actually but I'm glad I did it.
My kids are still young. Oldest aged 7 and 4. DD7 does brownies (cheap and cheerful!), swimming (10pounds per week/class), keyboard at school (about 70pounds per term), drama (about 100pounds per term) and Indian Dance + music which is about 100 per term. DD4 does swimming, drama, indian Dance + music. Same costs. They both go to French school on Saturday morning which is 110pounds per month. So all in all quite a lot but I want to maintain the contact with both our cultures and develop their interests in other things too. I'd like my oldest to try judo with me and they want to try ballet. But that would be only if something ends like swimming maybe.

Speakout
That sounds really great for your DD. Mine do less but it really does have an impact on them. DS with rugby was a particular surprise as he was never a fan of sport and does not have a rugby player's build at all but he absolutely loves doing it! I think it might be the adrenaline rush more than anything else.

French school cost is for both of them.
Total about 4k per year for the pair of them? But it includes 1.2k of French school and similar in swimming. I'd expect them to drop some activities as they get older and more focused.

My DC do some clubs at school that are very cheap and just for fun (think they're about £10 a term each). DC does Beavers and DD will join Rainbows once she's old enough. It's very cheap.

For me the main issue would be having time for just playing and actually entertaining themselves for decent lengths of time rather than just ten minutes here or there. I guess if either DC develop a passion for a sport or instrument I'd probably let them do lots of that but I definitely wouldn't just fill them up with loads of random extra curriculars for the sake of it.

Bridget - my oldest reads loads. In bed at the end of the day. She's 7 and loves reading. Which I agree is a fab activity too.

Your DC might have just one hobby, but if that is say, showjumping at a national level that could convincably average out at a grand a month or more

This. Not showjumping but a bog standard sport to national/international level.

No funding, so we pay £150/month training fees. 4 national comps per year, hotel stay, food, fees etc must be at least £500 each. Plus up to 3 international comps at around £500 (gb subsidise these). Plus 3 training camps at £200 each.

Plus petrol, time off work, equipment, physio etc.

Must work out at about £7k. And that’s with no ponies involved.

DD10 - Swimming £5, Ballet £5, Acro Dance £3.50 & Piano £12

DS8 - Swimming £5, Football £0

DS6 - Swimming £5

These cover 4 nights a week & take about 1.5 hours each night. DS8 has recently given up guitar which is a shame, he's now considering the drums!

I save £150 per month into an account to cover these activities.

My dd has really come out of her shell since starting ballet & acro & it's given her athe beginnings of a new friendship group outside of school (which was one of the main reasons).

Worth every penny!

I used to see some of the parents at my kids' junior school scooting off to after-school classes every day with their offspring (sometimes more than one per night). Absolute madness, and in the end, they usually gave up the activities or burnt out with all the pressure.

Surely it's best to find things that they enjoy and are motivated to work at, otherwise what is the point? Some things are very expensive (music, dancing etc) but there are loads of free or low-cost activities too, and it just depends what appeals to them, and what you can manage to fit it around the logistics of family life and finances.

I've spent a small fortune on music lessons and related activities and speech and drama lessons. Happy to say that all three kids use these skills for paid gigs in their adult lives (not related to their work/studies) and still enjoy doing it. Between them they tried just about everything over the years and we quickly dropped anything that they didn't like. They also spend a great deal of time hunkered down alone indulging other interests (dressmaking, coding, reading, Lego, buggering about on social media etc etc). Each to their own!

9yo DD does an activity every day after school & some lunch times too. She loves sport and would only do 2 x 40min sessions at school so this is how she exercises. She would otherwise be at the childminder or after school club and prefers the activities.
The only downside is we are in the SE so activities as expensive... piano is £20; swimming £7; football, athletics & hockey £5 each; gymnastics about £9. Luckily, all of the clubs are laid back about kit so she has a swimsuit, leotard and then a selection of shorts & t-shirts for the others.

We've ended up with a lot of activities this half term for various reasons. The cost is a side issue - luckily we can afford it - but the time is a bigger issue. Fitting in a club, plus reading/homework, downtime, dinner, bath etc.

DS is 6; he does football, karate, cooking and an instrument. We've chosen to drop Swimming this half term because of feeling overwhelmed and clubbed out! I feel he is a fine swimmer for his age - he can swim a couple of lengths unaided but he has no real strokes and I'd like him to go back to lessons after Easter. His name is also down for Beavers (massive waiting list) and he absolutely LOVES all the clubs that he is doing so I'm at a bit of a loss really. Ideally I'd like him to do no more than 3 things...

We spend probably £200 a month on activities for the DC (although this includes c. £30 on toddler groups etc for me and youngest DD who is 3 and at home with me full time). It's worth every penny.

Biggest chunk of expense is swimming lessons as we choose to do private 1:1 / 2:1 lessons for the older two. It's worth it to be able to choose our time (7.30am, so we get the whole day to enjoy) and location (several miles closer than the nearest council facilities, and with a safe, free car park right outside.)

We do a lot, but all except swimming and the new Cubs unit are within a 5-7 minute walk from the house at school, community centre or leisure centre. That makes a significant distance to time and effort, and is good for our fitness. If everything involved driving, petrol money, congestion and travel time, that would have an impact on what we do.

Things like swimming and gymnastics are at council facilities so lower cost, although don't have the quality of smaller classes of private providers. The Karate is private hire at the leisure centre. Beavers/ Cubs is cheaper because it's voluntary, not salaried. Football is run at school but outsourced. There are termly school clubs that tend to be free at either end of the school day. The dearest is a music lesson at school. I'd be surprised if DS has any great talent or ambition but it's good to get a flavour, and the atmospheres of the activities they do are low pressure.

We do a lot, but they are high energy children that need to burn energy. They still get a good amount of unstructured time for free play. Only gymnastics tips into the weekend in the morning and the rest is free to be spontaneous. They tend to be happy to get up most Sundays for junior parkrun, which is voluntary on their part. Occasionally I do have to lug them out if I've volunteered and DH isn't avaliable, but they can stay with me if they want; usually they are happy to do it at their own pace of the day and build up towards their ultra-marathon wristbands. They still have much more free time than when I worked FT and were in childcare 8-6 each day!

It is a lot, but most of the timings and travel are quite efficient, and costs fairly low compared to other activities.

Dd swims for a club. That in itself isn’t actually expensive, £40 a month but it’s all the competitions and equipment that adds up. She trains six times a week and each time we are at the pool for around three hours and then traveling time too :( she also does scouts. One evening a week.

My younger kids are not really doing much apart from beavers and swimming lessons. I dread them getting older though lol

5 kids and spend about 14k euro per annum. Sounds crazy !!
All play one/ two instruments so big fees there for weekly classes, exams, books, accompanists etc.
Dd is a horse rider so that's mega money for livery, shoes, vet bills, shows, gear etc.
Ds1 is a competitive gymnast and has to travel a lot outside of Ireland for training and competitions.
Other less expensive hobbies are soccer, tennis and gaelic sports.
Money well spent in my opinion!
We were lucky to secure places in a top performing non fee paying school so can spend our money on extra curricular.

My three DC do loads of sports and music. I dread to think how much it would cost if I added it all up!! They love it.

DS 1 - Gym pass £17 pcm, Drumming lessons £16 pw, Marine Scouts (sailing and kayaking etc) bloody bargain at £75 per year for every Saturday and Sunday all year. May take up a second instrument. DofE just cost us £130. So, TONS but he is into it all and appreciates it. Nothing worse than a bored teenager. Thank god he can walk everywhere and take himself
DD (11)- nothing, apart from free lunchtime clubs at school and kids gym pass £13. Not a joiner!
DS2 (8) - after school football £4 pw, drumming and guitar lessons £40 each per half term
Oh and they all had 1-2-1 swimming lessons until they could confidently swim 200m - couldn't be faffed with the half an hour every week forever and ever thing. This was quick and effective and probably worked out the same cost.
We can afford it, but we'd struggle if DD wanted to do as much as DS1 does.

Yes, spend a lot of evenings fitting my sport and relaxation between driving dc around. Cost is not too high. We figure its worth the effort, they put a lot in and get a lot out of their activities.

Dd is a dancer so we pay over £2k in fees, uniforms, costumes and shoes a year.

Ds did lots of football and tennis in primary but thankfully has cut down to hockey and cadets-both cheap!

All children are different. My dd definitely does the most amongst her friends, but she loves all her classes and copes fine with it.

The DC have one after school club a week, which for this term is animation (they can't do the same club 2 terms in a row unless it's singing). It's free. It's straight after school, so I just pick DS up, DD walks by herself.

DS is ten weeks we do mum and baby swim (£14!) and baby sensory (£5) each week. DH has done a dads and babies massage group with him too that was £8 a session for 4 weeks. I'm assuming this is only the tip of the iceberg and will increase as he grows up, I know when DB and I were young we both had multiple sports and activities each week, lots were free or low cost back then though

my 8 y old dont do school acrtivities as we home ed but he does do a twice weekly home ed group at £4 per family

and does a fair bit of activities with numerous different disability groups

soft play at £4.50x2

bouncy castle/inflatables weekly at £4

and soon he will be doing cubs at £5 per week

as a family we also do swimming weekly and cinema trips 3-4 times a week at £3.50 a ticket each

so you add them all up its a fair bit per week but thats what his DLA is for

Dd is nearly 8 (yr 3). She does swimming, gymnastics, brownies, art and violin. We have also just arranged for her to have some 1 to 1 tuition for English.

It sounds a lot and wasn't planned, but if I suggest dropping any she says no.
I do plan to stop the swimming when she passes level 4. She is on 78% but isn't a sting swimmer so it may take a while. I think it is important to her to know she has passed it, instead of stopping before the end. Stage 5 is 1 hour instead of 30 mins so I think it will be too much.
Gym is 45 mins. She has been going since she was little. They don't push them too hard, and don't train for squads or comps, it us more for fun. A friend's daughter may move into the same class in September too.
Brownies followed on from rainbows.
The art lesson is on a Saturday and is 2 hours long. She loves being creative and is good at art. She lacks confidence in some things (the 1 to 1 is support is because we think she may have dyslexia) so I am happy to encourage what she is good at.

The violin lessons take place in school. The external teacher runs a youth orchestra and suggested she join. It is only once a month and she seems to like it. She is playing a solo in the school eisteddfod in a few weeks.
All together it will be costing about £45 per week, but the highest cost is the tuition at £20per week(which we haven't had to pay for yet as she starts in March).

We are not massively well off (our joint salaries are probably less than some individual salaries), but are reasonably sensible with money si it can be afforded at the moment. If that becomes an issue we will have to rethink and decide what to stop.

I think what amounts to the right number of activities will vary from one child to another. What other people do is irrelevant.

I wish I hadn't clicked on this thread, as it's made me tot up in my head what I'm spending. Ahhh. Dd1 (10) swim squad plus comps, dance plus shows, hockey, tuition (if that's included, that's the biggie cost wise). £75 per week. Dd2, lots of dance, brownies, guitar, £40 per week. So, £115 per week. About £5000 per year. (Some are term time only) Fuck.
But... they enjoy it, we can afford it, there's still plenty of down time (there's 5 hours a day after school to fill to plenty of time to do both), and it means that we never have to argue about how much screentime they have, there's not time spare for too much.