Do I spend too much on toddler hobbies?

[Gailplatt95]

DD is 2, she has horse riding lessons, gymnastics and dance class. This comes to around £130 a month, then any clothes or equipment she needs on top. DP thinks this is too much as when her sister gets older we’ll have to do the same fir her too. I’m unsure, I never had hobbies as a child and I want my girls to have them. I think as she gets older she’ll probably pick just 1 or 2 that she wants to do, then it will become cheaper but at the moment she enjoys all her classes.
What do you spend on toddler hobbies? Is this excessive?

Sam Faiers (not a fan before anyone attacks me!) has had her little girl doing riding lessons since 2.

I’ve seen pictures of Sam Faier’s daughter on her pony. It’s very sweet but she’s not actually ‘riding’, she’s sitting on a pony, especially in the ones of her at the show.

I think that pony belongs to them too, so it will be costing even more money. Hopefully Rosie keeps enjoying her lessons, I really don’t think it’s sensible for a non horsey family to buy a pony for a toddler.

If you can afford it, she enjoys it and you don't mind all the traipsing around, it's fine

Slightly off topic but people seem to be disputing whether a child of two can ‘ride’. This is a photo of a woman, aged just three, competing her sister’s pony. She wrote in the Horse and Hound. It’s doable if she enjoys it!

Unlike some on here I do not think having hobbies at age 2 is a bad thing. I think it's great for kids of any age to have hobbies and to be around others learning new skills. My DS has been doing swimming lessons since he was 10 weeks old, and I will do it again when DC2 arrives. He also did baby sensory/toddler sense and has just started football lessons. He loves everyone of the activities so I think it is worthwhile. It does get expensive though, I will agree that. Totally up to you on whether you can afford it though xx

@DalzielandPaxo is that not a lead rein pony with the leader taken out for purposes of the photo?

I completely agree with all the PPs that say it's great for a two year old to be sitting on a pony and enjoying it but I wouldn't be lumping out money into a riding school's pocket for 'lessons' unless they were charging pony ride at the school fete rates!

@DalzielandPaxo that child is in a proper saddle and holding the reins at least. I’d be interested to see a video of the pony moving though. As the pony is massively too big for them I imagine it’s schooled within an inch of its life and the little girl didn’t have to do much.

I might be wrong though! I rode a succession of demon ponies as a child and if you put a toddler of that size/weight on them they would have taken full advantage of that and buggered off somewhere, so maybe I’m just biased

I don't think so. Just one of my sons hobbies is £135pm so that for all hobbies is fine.

I think that gym and dance build coordination and as you say it's a chance to socialise too.
I'm unconvinced about riding lessons for a two year old but if you both enjoy it and can afford it then why not?

*@DalzielandPaxo is that not a lead rein pony with the leader taken out for purposes of the photo? *

Yes absolutely. The only show available for 3 year olds is lead rein. In fact many don't allow them til 4 but some do start at 3. My 7 year old still qualifies for lead rein. That child is not trotting the pony around a ring independently

It's more expensive than I imagined but I admit to being out of touch. They sound like fine hobbies but she is only two, I doubt many children of her age do quite so much.

If you can afford it and she likes it, go for it. As you say, when she gets older she will choose what she wants in particular.

Perhaps you could ask grandparents etc to contribute at Christmas and birthday.

Children can compete at HOYS at 3 - yes in lead rein and no doubt on very expensive schooled ponies but aren't the children at that level supposed to still rise to trot independently and show some aids? (Handler shouldn't be too close/tight on lead rein)

That said, my 2 year old who I've described leading down the lane on a pony and doing a fun class, I cannot imagine being able to ride to HOYs lead rein level next year as she's just too young to take instruction

@MaskingForIt

🤣🤣🤣🤣 oh my days, your comment made me laugh 😆😆😆

😀one would be enough op,I'm with your husband on this one.as she gets older she will be more aware and will argue for keeping all three and more,if you know you can't afford to do it for both children cut it down now.there's lots you can do with young children that doesn't cost so much.

These things are activities, btw, not hobbies, when we're talking about two years olds 😄

It's a lot of money - it depends if you can afford it? And afford it once the youngest is older.

When mine were 2 they did Tumble Tots, swimming and toddler group. It cost about £40 odd quid a month. Now they are older I spend more eldest does karate including courses, competitions and needing to pay for uniform and equipment. My youngest does Brownies, keyboard, choir and gymnastics. However Brownies is very cheap and choir is free as it is a school club.

On a toddler? Nothing. I saved the money for when they were old enough to be competent and remember things.

@Ernieshere

she doesn’t go to nursery so this is time she gets to spend socialising too

I wouldn't call it socialising at all Im afraid, the horse riding I presume is DD seeing a horse in front of her and an adult to her side, the gymnastics and dance, again I would think they have to just listen and copy.

I dont know, maybe swimming with friends, walking in he woods with friends and soft play would be more sociable for her?

I think my DD used to get more out of just going to another toddler's house to play and play with their toys than anything else. She always asks about it.

She'd love a walk in woods with friends too, but none of that is really allowed at the moment due to social distancing, so it's not accessible to us anymore

Toddler groups may not restart until she's too old, and she loved that too, used to have such a smile on her face the whole time

I wonder if like me OP is just trying to find activities to do for a different experience for her. Mine has plenty of free play and walks in local woods etc etc but at the moment everything is very isolating - not seen NCT friends really since March

Yes that's too much, she is 2 ffs.

There's quite a lot of evidence of a strong correlation between the elite competition horse riders and starting riding before the age of 5. There's important things about balance and so on that it is advantageous to get hardwired in early on.

Apart from worrying about if the level of activity she is doing is too much for developing joints, if you can afford it I think both horse riding and gym are advantageous for her. Although like everybody else, I'm astonished you've found a riding school that will take her at 2, as the standard minimum for their insurance is usually 3 or 4.

(Wtf does a gym session for a 2 year old involve?)

I have a toddler niece. Her hobbies include doing roly polys and trying to ride the cat.

Sounds normal to me. I'm a sahm so no nursery for my 22 month DD, nurseries are really structured so I don't see how having three 30min/1hr long activities a week can be worse than that, and no one here seems to have a problem with nursery.

We do dance, swimming and a music class - we've also just signed up to a forest school type thing. We also walk the dog in the woods everyday, go round family and friends houses, play in the garden, go to rhyme time, out for lunch, tidy up, bake cakes, dance around the house etc etc so it's by no means true that if you have a couple of activities planned a week then the child won't get any free play time 🙄

Plus so nice to have a break from thinking up the activities and being able to chat to other adults for a bit after the classes.

For something she won't ever remember, it sounds like a lot, and a waste of time (I assume you're at these activities with her - watching).

Free, self-directed play, is - at this age - far more important to their long-term development.

My son didn't start any group activities untill he was 4 when he did a couple of terms of toddler football At age 5 he did a couple of terms of swimming lessons. He didn't take lessons seriously untill he was around 9 when he took up an instrument. Now age 12 he is on a couple of school sport teams and learning 2 instruments. Do you know what the difference between him and kids who where bombarded with activitys as toddlers? Zero, zip, nothing, either physically or mentally. In fact he has staying power now with his activities unlike kids who have been bombarded and pushed from very young. I put that down to them being his own genuine interests not something pushed on him for facebook likes.

@ColleagueFromMars DS had just started toddler gymnastics before lockdown, it's basically a bit of basic tumbling and balancing on a very low beam (few cm off the floor), my nephew is five and is in the older class, he can cartwheel, somersault, now uses a slightly higher beam and is learning to vault. It's very good for exercise, balance, co-ordination etc