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

Oh shit. Mine only did homework after school, apart from oldest who went to cadets twice a week for 18 months or so, and youngest who did some drama productions at high school. No swimming, Mandarin or junior accounting.
I've clearly failed as a parent.
Good job they somehow managed to drag themselves through uni and graduate in spite of it all. Phew.

Sounds a bit like mine and I wonder sometimes if it’s too much but she enjoys it and is not exhausted etc

Mon - Spanish
Ties - running club
Wed - extra maths tuition for 1 hour
Thurs - Cubs
Fri - piano
Sat - ballet
Sunday - we all go for family swim where the venue gets floats etc out

My 8 year old's schedule is;

Monday Dance 4-5pm
Tuesday Free
Wed Gymnastics 4-7pm
Thurs Dance 4.30 - 5.30
Friday Gymnastics 4-7pm

Weekends are free but often spent doing gymnastics because she's obsessed

It sounds fine, I wouldn't even count the 415 finishes as that's pretty early still if you have nothing else after. My DCs always did lots (their choice). DS1 still does at 14 but DS2 doesnt really anymore.

As long as they are happy and not too tired it's all good.

And no, many 8 year olds dont go to bed at 730.

As long as he's happy and has enough energy then that's the main thing. One of my Brownies used to have art, then swimming and Brownies on the same night and was completely exhausted and tearful by the time she arrived at us.

It sounds like your son is enjoying what he does, just check in with him and the leaders of the clubs if you sense that starting to change.

When does he have time for homework?
Of course he won't be able to entertain himself if he's constantly going to activities and having no down time. Boredom leads to imagination!

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

That would be at the early end for a child to go to sleep and also be for an early wake up, normal range required is 9-11 hours and if you're out side of that either way it still may not be bad, everyone has different sleep demands. Naturally going to sleep and naturally waking up is the key thing to develop good sleep health.

i see. thank you. My kids are 5 and 3 so not quite there yet. :)

DD (8) does:

Monday: hockey
Tues: 7am early morning running club, lunchtime swim squad
Weds : Tap, followed by 3hrs squad gymnastics
Thurs: synchronised swimming
Friday: LEGO club
Sat: morning athletics, afternoon swimming lessons
Sun: Junior Parkrun, followed by 3hrs squad gymnastics

DS (10)

Mon: lunchtime kickboxing, after school cricket, followed by swim squad
Tues: 7am swim squad, lunchtime Judo, after school chess, followed by running club
Weds: hockey
Thurs: 7am swim squad, after school water polo
Friday: football
Sat: Parkrun followed by athletics
Sun: Junior Parkrun followed by rugby

I think it’s fine!

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

my 5 year old doesn't even sleep until 8pm... and why on earth should they.

@edwinbear wow that is giving me FOMO!

@shinyredbus lights off at 8-830, up at 0715 so 11 ish hours sleep.

@loutypips they don’t seem to have masses of homework.... half an hour of English/maths a week, reads to us for ten minutes a night, ten minutes a day of TT Rockstars which he does in the morning, a mathletics things which takes ten minutes and spellings ten minutes on a Friday. My friends son is at an Outstanding school and he does absolutely reams of homework so I guess it does vary. You’ve hit the nail on the head there about getting bored and it does worry me.

Edwinbear... you make me feel better ! Dd10 does 10 hours dance/week 😳 plus music...

Does he really have to go to Saturday religion school from 9.45-13.00? I would imagine he would rather be doing something else on Saturday mornings and that amount of time sounds a bit heavy/excessive to me. Everything else sounds fine.

My DD does Mon Minecraft Club, Tues Choir, Weds Drama, Thurs D&T (all after school clubs). Saturday she does three hours of performing arts, Sunday is homework mainly and sometimes we go swimming but not a lesson.

Children need down time, be allowed to get bored

You’ve obviously not met my kid. He doesn’t know the meaning of any of that 😩 which is why I like to wear him out while other adults look after him 😉

DS7

Monday 5.30 swimming (night may change soon as he’s fine up a grade)
Tuesday 4.45 ballet
Wednesday nothing - used to have rugby league but he’s gone off it so we dropped that
Thursday nothing
Friday nothing - but considering cubs or theatre dance
Saturday 10am tennis 12pm football
Sunday 9am junior parkrun 12 extra tennis coaching (if he wants it) 3 running club

Weekends are a bit hectic admittedly

Another parent of a dancer here! Our week is crazy, but she competes and loves it! Does ballet, tap, jazz, street and festival practice.

Monday: dance (2hrs)
Tues: dance (2hrs)
Weds: dance (1hr)
Thurs: choir at school
Fri: Nothing
Sat: dance/musical theatre (4hr)
Sun: dance (2hr)

For those who prefer their kids to do only a couple activities a week, don’t ever do dance!!!

I think your schedule looks fine. It’s really down to the child and family. What will be way to much for 1 child wouldn’t be enough for someone else! Judge based on their willingness to attend, how tired they get and the effect in their concentration at school. If that’s all fine and they seem happy, then crack on!

I think two extra curricular activities is enough. When does he get bored? When does he get time to be just him and to discover what he likes. It’s important for kids to know how to entertain themselves. Schedule bored time into his routine.

As long as your child is happy and you're happy too then it's fine!
My 8 yrs old loves having loads of activities but I think my 5yrs old will have less as she needs time at home a lot more than her sister at the same age:
Currently:
Monday - football at school and then brownies.
Tuesday - piano or judo (or occasionally nothing)
Wednesday - swimming but we've just stopped now as they want to do horseriding (on a sunday)
Thursday - singing class every other week
Friday - Drama class
Saturday - French school (non negotiable, 3 hours, but they love it) and then indian Dance and music class.
Sunday - judo and then horse riding.
Occasionally some activities will be missed if we're away/otherwise busy etc

That would be too much for mine, both do one after school activity on weekdays and swimming on a Saturday - they need down time and we need time as a family at weekends. It leaves time for homework or seeing friends of an evening. I also honestly don’t want to spend all my time in the evening being a taxi service.

7am running club for an eight year old?
Mad.

I think as long as they have a nutritious diet to support high levels of activity, plenty of sleep and the ability to say if they want to drop something - then crack on! DS in particular we watch his sports hours but he’s a good sportsman with potential at a good level and wants to carry on for now. We will look again when he starts in Senior school to be sure his academics don’t slip, but he hopes for a career in sport so we try to get the balance right.

It requires military planning, but everyone is happy so works for us!

Mine (8yo)
Monday- childminders til 6
Tuesday - childminders til 5.30
Wednesday - childminders til 5.30 then swim til 7
Thursday - childminders til 6
Friday - childminders til 5.30

Saturday and Sunday - rest relaxation homework a long walk and usually the odd birthday party thrown in.

@Mrskeats her brother runs at county level and did early morning running. She wants the same opportunities he had and I’m happy to oblige.

I think it sets a weird precedent that they are the most important person in the house. My friends DD also 8 has shed loads of activities and can’t get through a weekend without some organised day out ( to a theme park for example). It’s all taken very much for granted. I think there’s something to be said for getting home and entertaining yourself ( away from screens). I also have hobbies and interests and feel that 3 activities a week for my DD is fair in the scheme of things. Everyone in the family is entitled to leisure time.

I think some kids want to do loads of stuff. As long as they’re enjoying it, it’s affordable and younger ones don’t mind trailing around then it’s fine. In my experience it seems to peak at junior stage and then as they move into secondary they naturally start ditching things or focusing on one thing.