To ask what your children do outside of school?

[honeymaple]

Probably not the right board for this but I posted elsewhere with no response.

DS has just turned four and I'd like the start enrolling him in some activities.

He's interested in dance. I'd also like to enrol him in piano when he's old enough.

What do your children do? Do they enjoy it? Are they good at it?

I have a 5 year old and a 7 year old. They both do gymnastics and handball. They enjoy them, especially handball which they absolutely love, but being completely honest I'd say they are a bit below average at both. That's really why I want them in sports, because they are not physically gifted and I think they could do with the extra input there. I also like them to be active and they get a lot out of the social side too.

The 7 year old is very keen to start piano when we can get a spot for her and then she'll probably drop gymnastics as I think 2 activities is plenty on top of homework. The 5 year old might swap gymnastics for football next year if he wants to - I'm going to put him on a short football course next summer and then let him decide which 2 sports he wants during term time.

DD (age 7) does Brownies one evening after school, a dance class on Saturday, and swimming class on Sunday. Brownies is for learning new things, fun, and socialising out of school. She has enjoyed dance but doesn’t love it like some of the other girls do, so that might not last for much longer. Swimming is an essential skill so she’ll be going to classes until she’s a competent swimmer.

Is your son at nursery/ school? I found that in reception, DD was quite tired during the first term or so and extra activities would have been a struggle. She started school in September 2019, and with lockdowns and Covid, she didn’t start any classes until late in Year 1, so was a bit older and able to manage extra activities.

5yo, just swimming at the moment, will pick up football again in the spring/summer.

He is a good swimmer, but not gifted or anything. I don't think he's particularly good at football, but it's difficult to tell, they all seem equally rubbish at this age! They're just enjoying running round.

Oh and gymnastics, but that's on the weekend, not after school. Again, he's doing well but not showing any sign of being a future Olympian.

5 year old, just Squirrels, maybe when he's 6 I'll enrol him in some more instructional type activities.

We've had music lessons, sports clubs, swimming lessons, rainbows/ brownies etc, science club, nature club, dance, stage school over three children so far.

DD was a dynamo m, sporty and active from an early age, and wanted to be busy. She started ballet and football at 4, gymnastics at 5. She also did every school club going once she was old enough - from street dance to basketball - as well as Brownies. It was bloody exhausting managing it all .

DS is on the autistic spectrum and couldn’t cope with clubs and group activities, but he did swimming. Learning to be proficient, confident swimmers was my non negotiable for them both.

Dts did swimming, ballet and gymnastics in yr. then joined rainbows in y1 and dropped ballet as it really wasn't their thing. Then they found horses and now it's horses and guides. Swim recreationally once a week.

I have 4 DC. They oldest 2 are in school and do the following:

DS: swimming, gymnastics, football, speech & drama (starting back at piano soon).

DD: swimming, gymnastics, coding, football, speech & drama and Rainbows.

The youngest 2 are only babies so nothing yet.

Let me tell you, pick very wisely what you do. As we never seem to drop anything and just add more and more on. It’s very stressful getting them to things and I spend so much time trying to figure out logistics.

At 4, maybe so swimming lessons, but very little else would be what I’d.

At 4 mine did dance, piano, cricket in summer and tennis.

And swimming.

Now older piano, tennis, swimming, football and Cubs

4 year old does Squirrel Scouts and swimming. We have very busy weekends, especially in summer so I want to leave him with a lot of downtime after school. He needs the time to unwind (just like I did at school). There’s no way I’d survive a private school 😁

Both DC do swimming lessons once a week. DD(8) goes to Brownies (previously did Rainbows). DS(4) is going to Beavers (Squirrels?) when a space becomes available.

Almost 6yo DS does school football club after school. He's keen to start Beavers soon. Then I will start him with swimming lessons once he's in year 2 next year. He moved schools this year and had issues with settling so I don't want to overwhelm him until he is fully settled. In addition to this he's just started breakfast and after school club one day a week.