Aibu to think that the most successful kids in schools are the ones with money pumped into extracurriculars & camps?

[Imarealwoman]

In the dc's school the dc in the top sets are the ones who do expensive extracurriculars outside school eg piano, dancing, horse riding, swimming lessons, Spanish etc..
They stay after school for the baking or yoga clubs. It's Easter & the top set kids all seem to be doing expensive camps next week & some gone skiing this week.
Aibu to think one needs to have the money to pump into your child in order to have a high performer?

Three of my children are very high performing academically, my youngest is only five so too early to tell yet. None of them do any extra curricular activities and never have done. I don’t think extra curricular activities do anything for there general school performance but they obviously have other benefits for socialisation etc

@DedicatedFollowerOfFashion84@DedicatedFollowerOfFashion84 that's interesting to know thank you. I guess I'm feeling a bit guilty I haven't put them into camps over the hols...

I think sometimes yes, but other times if a child is juggling too many priorities they can get stressed and burn out and their performance declines - so it depends how it’s all balanced.

Lots of kids go to camps because both parents work. One of the signs of high attainment is having highly educated, working parents. No idea if it's cause or effect.

I'm sure there's plenty of kids do extra curricular activities who don't excel academically too but I do think these things build things like confidence, resilience, self discipline etc that will help with academic work too.

Yes I think a lot is down to this.

In my experience it’s the kids with brains and motivation.

My DS is an only (not through choice) he got everything, adventure camps, rugby camps, he hated school, had no interest in university from a very young age and failed his GCSEs miserably, limped through a college course and is now soaring on an apprenticeship.

Wouldn’t have been my choice but it was his and we supported it.

My child does extracurriculars almost every day, lunchtime and after school, plus sports camps etc, but he struggles academically and actually quite a lot with his self esteem (the extracurriculares, particularly the sports are helping a lot with this), so I’m not sure about the correlation.

Correlation isn’t causation. A lot of children in the top sets at your DC’s school do lots of extracurricular stuff. That doesn’t mean that sending your child to lots of extra curricular stuff makes a child a ‘high performer.’

Intelligent people with a strong work ethic are more likely to be higher earners. They’re likely to have bright children and have the money and inclination to sign them up for lots of extracurricular activities.

Interesting takes on this. Imo the kids with money invested in them seem to have a wider knowledge base & get into the top sets easily. Also more likely to be chosen for parts in concerts etc by the teachers.

I'm a teacher and I feel that extracurricular activities boost confidence and help children socially but it stops there. The children who tend to academically succeed are the ones who read every night, have parents who talk to them and take them to museums which are all free (well museums in London). That's only my observations though!

It's probably more correlation than causation TBH. They are the ones most likely to have involved or pushy parents generally. If the parents are keen to channel a lot of time and money into 'rounding' and experiences, they are also going to be putting the same amount of effort into helping with the academics. Obviously there will be poorer involved parents whose DCs do well academically because of the same parental effort but without the extracurriculars, and DCs who aren't capable of doing particularly well academically no matter how much time and money their parents throw at them, but I think taking an interest and helping them where needed is the key.

@CheeseMunchies great to have a teachers perspective 😊 thank you.

My DC have extracurricular activities (mainly sports & theater school) and have been to holiday camps. We also go abroad for holidays- even been to a summer ski resort a few years back!
Sadly they are not top set at all....

A bright, curious child will probably drive their parents insane round the house so they send them to activities to burn off physical and mental energy (looking at you, DD).

I think the reason the children can do all of the expensive extra curriculars is because the household is most probably a high income household. The reason the family is high income is most probably because one or both of the parents are high earners. The reason one or both of the parents are high earners are most probably because they were educated to a high level and the most likely they were able to be educated to a high level is most probably because they were academic at school.

All these factors play a part. It’s no accident that intelligent, academic people have intelligent, academic children. There is a genetic component alongside placing a high value is education and cultural pursuits.

I spent the morning doing educational activities with my kids. I had the time. They are now back on screens but I now know my eldest can tell the time accurately as o was aware I hadn’t secured that knowledge. We also read books and I read to them while they were colouring and the reading opened up a conversation which covered lots of subjects where we all learned something new.

This afternoon we’re going out on an egg hunt that cost me £1 for a form. That’s it for today. No big money spent. Just my time.

I think it is correlation rather than causation.

My kids are highly academic. They always have been. They do do lots of activities but I don’t think that has made any difference to their abilities whatsoever. They just like them.

The reason they are academically able is because dh and I are both academically able and they inherited our genetics.

Mine are 20 and 17, definitely no camps or clubs, firstly because I am a SAHM so was here for every holiday and secondly, they didn't like any extra curricular activities.

What they did have was access to tech, to YouTube, to science content and reading, even stuff like Minecraft gave them understanding of minerals and resources, self watering farms etc. I encouraged curiosity, we watched lots of history or Edutainment ie Tom Scott. They have thrived because they had incredible teachers at school who encouraged them and nurtured their learning.

I think parental input plays a role as well as a child who interested in learning about things. We tried to make learning fun, that homework was not a chore but cementing knowledge or extending knowledge. I wish I had had YouTube when I was a kid, my degree might have been in engineering rather than a humanities subject.

The most successful kids in schools are the ones who get quality time from their parents, and money has little effect. Reading together, cooking, days out, free museums, camping trips, public transport, conversations, etc, are all great for kids development. Singing with parents, gardening with parents, even jus growing a few veg in a pot, volunteering with parents, these are the things that develop children. You dont need to "pump money in"

too much screen time and gaming is what holds children back emotionally and academically, sticking a kid on an ipad at the table aged 3...... of course those children are not developing vocabulary, awareness, personal skills, understanding, etc

I think I'd be too knackered to focus on my school work after all those extras!

😂 And this!

sport needn't be expensive, walking, hiking, swimming etc with parents is great too

It's Easter & the top set kids all seem to be doing expensive camps next week & some gone skiing this week.
Aibu to think one needs to have the money to pump into your child in order to have a high performer?

Why would skiing or yoga club help your child excel in maths, science or reading?

YABU the most important thing you can do to help your child achieve is give them your time.