To think I might be over scheduling my 8 year old?

[WhenYouveAFirstInEnglish]

He does climbing on a Monday, nothing on Tuesday (but often has a play date), Wednesday school football (until 415), Thursday drama (until 415) then Cubs 645-815, Friday club football training, Saturday religion school from 945-1 and Sunday club football match.

He loves all the activities although football is the passion, never complains about going, and when left to his own devices gravitates towards the switch or TV if he can’t go outside to play football. He’s not great at entertaining himself without screens although I do schedule in unscheduled screen free time in the holidays if that makes sense!!

It’s all fine, it works for us but I can’t shake the feeling it’s a bit much. Cubs is the latest thing he’s asked to do and I’ve a feeling it just might tip over the edge into too much?

Thanks

Op I agree with others, if it works for you and ds go for it.
My ds8 does
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - football club at school
Wednesday- dance (we walk)
Thursday- woodcraft (like Cubs) -walk there
Friday - nothing but often play after school with friends
Sat football -walk there
Sun swimming lesson/play- walk there

My ds benefits from lots of exercise, all are his choice (except swimming which i say is required)
I also get him to commit to a term if he starts. Most he has done for years, cos he enjoys them.

Because PE has been cut back in the curriculum and quite a few of his activities are straight from school I think that's fine.

Tons of evidence to suggest being active is so much better for kids in terms of future mental health.

I did loads of different activities as a kid. As I got older, they condensed down to what I really loved doing. I’m grateful to my parents for this as I think I was more confident. You know you DC so as long as they’re enjoying it (and you can afford it!) don’t worry.
You do need to make sure you’re not burning yourself out with all the pick ups/drop offs!

That’s still quite a long extension to every school day. When do they get to just relax at home?

The OP's child is generally done by 4:15, so that's maybe 4 or 5 hours free for them to relax, or if they go to bed earlier, then the time between getting up and going to school. It would be a quite an atypical child to require more sleep than that.

That would be fine for us. My DD is 6, it’s riding lessons (x2, one on each pony) on Mondays, Rainbows on Tuesdays, Wednesdays skating, Thursday is vaulting and dog training and Friday is swimming.

We compete both dogs and horses over the weekends.

Kids don't need so much "relaxing", what's beneficial for them is to be active.

It's great if they love reading and playing, but they also need to do physical activities. They spend enough time locked in a classroom most of the day.

Better than screens.

@Purplequalitystreet we rarely do days out. We’ll often go for bike rides/dog walks all together at weekends, sometimes cinema, or out for pub lunch or meet friends at adventure playground etc. We always have a movie night Saturday unless we are out. Visit family etc (religion school is very flexible, we can attend when we want essentially). Proper days out as a 4 we tend to do on holiday.

@mantarays there isn’t a massive amount tbh. Not days and days like I had as a kid (although thinking back I did quite a lot for an 80s kid).

My DD is 11 & in last year of primary.
Mondays she goes to guides from 7.30 to 9pm.
Tuesdays: choir till 4.30pm, then free (until 2 weeks ago she had swimming).
Wednesdays: the first term she did running, unfortunately this has finished now, she will start Coding club till 4.15pm. At 5.30 /7pm Spanish lessons.
Thursdays: school football till 4.15pm
Fridays: swimming at 6pm
Saturdays: French school 9.30am-12.30pm
Sundays: We usually go to junior parkrun, walked or run, no pressure.
In a way I am glad swimming has moved days as this frees an evening during the week for homework.

I think it's fine. The after school clubs are fine because it's just an hour added on to the day. The others seem perfectly fine as long as he enjoys them all and is keen to do it. He'll soon let you know if he's not enjoying something.

DD is 8 and her week goes like this:
Mon- gymnastics 6-9
Tue- choir after school
Wed- gymnastics 6-9
Thurs - piano (just 30 mins)
Fri - gymnastics 6-9
Sat - speech and drama
Sun - nothing!!

It does seem a lot when it's written down like that but she's a squad gymnast so a lot of time is dedicated to that.

I love seeing all the activities the kids do on this thread (note to self, do not start panicking because DS doesn’t do horse riding/gym/bagpipes).

What’s vaulting?

It’s a lot but if it works for you and he’s happy...

I have 2 DC. Our week is like this;

Mon: swimming (both)
Tues: karate (DC2) then Cubs (DC2)
Wed: nothing
Thurs: rugby after school club (DC2), guitar lesson (DC1)
Fri: scouts (DC2)
Sat: maths tutor (DC1)
Sun: rugby (DC2)

I love Wednesdays!

@lynda don’t mention tutoring! We are hoping DS1 will try for the super selective grammar which will mean some tutoring in year 5..... dreading it (I know people do exam technique etc with their DC but I wouldn’t be confident to do that)

It's better he does those activities than sat on his arse watching TV or playing computer games which you say he gravitates to if bored.

You say he loves it all and never complains so I'd take that as long as it lasts!

It doesn’t seem crazy especially as you’re generally finished by 4.15 and plenty of children will be in after school clubs until 6. The thing that possibly adds to it is the religious school as if that is time he has to really concentrate and learn, that may be more tiring than an hour of sports. Will that continue for many years?

@Cremebrule at least until 12 and most of them seem to stay on and do a related GCSE. It’s quite fun and relaxed, they do arts and crafts, outside stuff, and some Hebrew.

My DD almost 9 currently has:

Monday: swimming
Tuesday: ballet
Wednesday: ballet
Thursday: brownies
Friday: summer soccer (in NZ)

Brownies is the only activity that is in the evening, until 7pm.

Ideally she would improve faster at swimming with another lesson, but at this stage it’s optional.

Two ballet classes is compulsory at her grade, but she enjoys them.

She also does drama at school on Friday at lunchtime.

In winter she will play netball on Saturday.

She did want to do a cricket programme especially for girls but we couldn’t find a time that suited.

She’d possibly do less if I had more than one child. But all of this is her choice and she enjoys the social side and the peer group of friends that these activities offer her outside of school, which is important.

It's fine, but make sure you also insist he has screen free unscheduled time where he amuses himself, and let him know that in future he will need to give something up to free up money or time for a new activity. And prioritise family time regularly. The arms race of activities and competitive schooling can be harmful to some kids.

My 8 year old loves a club, she does monday- Thursday something after school (mostly sporty) until 4.30pm. She also does one lunch time music lesson and one 8am sports club.

Weekends are club free though and I'm hoping to keep it that way for as long as I can. She does loads of exercise and is home by 5pm so no issue with sleep etc.

If your child is happy it's not a problem. I think its really good for children to be active and to have screen free hobbies, also it's a really sociable thing to do.

Why do you feel the need to get him to engage with so many different activities? Children need down time, be allowed to get bored. Mine are grown now but I used to love the evenings when we got home from school, shut the door and did not have to leave the house again until morning. Personally I think a couple of activities are more than enough during the week.

My ds is 6 and has

Monday - kung fu (4.30 -5)
Tuesday - nothing

Wednesday - nothing (but usually in after school childcare as it’s his Dad’s “day”)
Thursday - sometimes football at the school until 4.15 but it’s only one half of each term
Friday - swimming (4.30 - 5)
Saturday - drama club (11.15 - 12.45)
Sunday - nothing

Tbh I think it’s a bit much - just had to move swimming from Sat to fri so he could do the drama club.

Dd is 11 and does most of her hobbies at school - computer club, choir and netball after school, Sometimes lunchtime art, trombone during lesson time. She does 3 hours drama/dancing/ singing on Saturday morning and adores it so that’s her main thing!

Whatever works for you. The only thing I would question is most Cub packs have a lot of extra activities, usually at the weekend. Have you considered how it might work to accommodate those of us wants to go on camp for example?

• if he, not of us. Autocorrect and no edit feature anymore apparently.

It would be too much for me, but then DS goes to After School Club twice a week so doesn't get in until 6. He also does Cubs and cycling club at the weekend in the summer.

When I was about that age I did something every day after school, I really enjoyed it although had the weekend free to play with my toys and read.

what time does he go to bed? i assumed all 8 year old slept at 730pm still?