Extracurricular clubs for young children

[EmmaDilemma5]

AIBU to wonder if extracurricular activities really add value to young children? I guess I'm thinking 6 years old and under.

I feel a lot of pressure to send my children to clubs, but when I've tried before, they just don't get it. They try but it ends up being a bit of a waste of time in terms of learning skills and socially they're still not really there yet.

They're also perpetually tired after Preschool/ school all week so I'm wondering; will my children miss out if I just don't bother until they're KS2 age and can choose what they actually want to do and have more energy and ability to enjoy it?

Will they be missing out?

www.scouts.org.uk/squirrels/

DD started swimming at 3.5 and it was 100% worth it. She was able to be thrown into the water without dying by 4. Great life skill.

she started an instrument at 5 and… let’s say, she probably could have held off until 7 for it to be valuable. She’s no Yo-Yo Ma!

Not aged 5, they are just learning to hit the ball at that stage. They queue up and take it in turns to hit it back to the teacher, or have exercises to do individually. No Tots Tennis class has actual matches with points.

DS does a lot, he’s in Yr1 but it’s a combination of both of us working so he goes to stuff at school until we collect him and he’s an only child and really wants to play with others.

swimming- life skill and non negotiable for us.

football/rugby- basically him running around for an hour which is important and gross motor skill practice.

At school he does things like Lego club and French which he enjoys but aren’t necessary and are basically childcare. If one of us didn’t work then he wouldn’t go.

Each to their own and like many others have said, it depends on the child.

I sent DC to a nursery which included dance, drama, sports, yoga etc in their curriculum so did not have to run around myself. Since starting school, they both do gymnastics, swimming, drama/dance and DD does Beavers (DS will join when old enough). I would cut down if they were exhausted or irritable but they both love all their activities and request more rather than less!

Like many others, swimming is a non-negotiable. I see it as an essential skill and also makes holidays so much more enjoyable. They have some choice over the others but I need to be able to cater for both so they pick one each and allow both to attend each others' (if that makes sense) as the close age gap allows for it.

Activities when young are enjoyable and they do develop skills but I definitely would not bother if it was a battle to get them out the house and to the activity each week - I don't have the time or energy! If they want to do activities like gymnastics to a high level, they are selected for squad aged 4-5 at our club - not what we want though, focus is on having fun and keeping fit

I think KS2 (age 7) would be quite late to start football, as all the other kids will have been playing since age 4 or 5, but it would be fine for most other sports. I also think swimming is better from a younger age as they tend to pick it up quicker.