If you grew up in the 80s/early 90s. Did you do extra curricular activities?

[Jellycatjellycat]

I'm interested to see what is the norm.

I did nothing, no swimming, dance, brownies or anything like that. I do remember other girls doing Brownies and Ballet after school and asking my mum if I could go. She shut it down and told me I wouldn't like it.

These days of course most children do a lot of extra curricular activities but wondering if perhaps it wasn't such a thing years ago.

Only since I've a child of my own have I realised how little interest my parents showed in clubs and sporting activities for me and my sister ( mid 80's growing up)

No after school activities, brownies or guides, sporting activities.

It would have been difficult with the only car and driver being my Dad, but that wasn't the reason. I think it's because we didn't particularly push it and they didn't want the extra work and expense.

Clubs and activities are so important to give you kids differesets of friends and broaden their horizons. Helps with their health if it's a sport etc

Another one of of those where again you realise your own parents weren't all that once you have your own kids.

I was born in 1970.

I did piano lessons and clarinet lessons for bloody years, it was expensive and I hated it but classical music was DFs passion and I was good at it annoyingly.

I wanted to do ballet but instead was sent to interpretative dance classes run by one of DMs friends.

I would have loved to do Brownies but it was never offered as an option, not sure why.

I have made sure DS got to attend whatever he wanted of his own choosing.

Did ballet until I was 11, swimming lessons when younger and got to the point where you either quit or joined swimming club (I quit!), brownies / guides / rangers, learnt 2 musical instruments and played in the school, local and county youth orchestras all through secondary school. My brother did swimming, cubs/scouts/ventures, football for a while and hockey.

Lots and lots of replies but just picked up on this most recent one.

It's exactly this isn't it. We didn't have much money but I'm sure my parents could have spared a few quid for at least one thing. They also had fags, alcohol and my mum went to the butchers every day. We had loads of pets too which must have cost a fortune.

There were clubs at the local library/community centre which was a 10 minute walk away. I remember going in for my mum to use the toilet and seeing my school friends in their ballet outfits and asking if I could go.

I think my parents just couldn't be bothered.

Has made me really sad reading some of these replies. I thought maybe clubs just weren't that much of a thing but clearly that wasn't the case.

I had lots of opportunities. I sailed, keyboard lessons, table tennis, badminton, swimming, dancing, gymnastics, brownies, to name a few, not all at the same time but had plenty of opportunities. Being an only child I guess made it easier logistically and financially. I’ve given my kids the same opportunities to try things out.

I was school age from 1984-1998.
At primary age, I did ballet, tap & gym (for a brief time from age 5-6 ish), swimming (lessons only until I could swim reasonably well from age 6-7 ish), Brownies (my favourite and I did this from age 7-10) and piano lessons (age 7-9).
At secondary, I just did music (orchestral instrument from age 13-18).

Brownies and Guides, and a youth orchestra from about 7 (which I bloody hated, I also got a place in the Youth Choir but Mum had a hissy fit & refuses to let me swap because my twin sis had not got a place).

We used to have organ lessons too, but the tutor was a horrible, dirty old bastard (and quite obviously a paedophile in hindsight). Lots of thigh rubbing, hands lingering too long on your fingers, touching your legs to get the right position on the pedals; the 80s were fucked for child safety, but that may have been my narc never believing a word we said, nor wanting us to ‘show her up’ by making a fuss.

Shudder.

One bit of me thinks clubs and groups weren't as much of a thing. But I'd cousins who did tons of relatively low cost stuff. But my Aunt only worked part-time.

If money was an issue I can see why dance was avoided, even in the 80s dance was expensive, cost of lessons, outfits, shoes, tap and ballet.

For us the constraints was definitely time and transport. My sister did one club that needed a drive she went with her friend and the two Dads sorted between them who was dropping off and who was collecting.

Yes, speech and drama, piano, gymnastics, tennis.

Swim week every summer (only swimming lessons available) and lifesaving as we got older.

Rowing club started when I was 12 so that was a huge thing until I left home after uni.

Dropped tennis but took up guitar in secondary. And girl guides. Kept piano to 3rd year (of secondary) and speech and drama until final year secondary. And did hockey in school but involved staying after school once a week so my mum had to come 15 miles to collect me that day instead of the bus home, and on guides day she came 10 miles to the in between town where I'd jumped off the bus.

Finished secondary on mid 90s.

I think part of the reason I only did the clubs my DPs thought worthy is because both of them worked ft and therefore were too busy to take me. Of course in those days ft meant both of them were home before 5 with no additional work so it wouldn't have been that hard to drop me off at brownies one evening a week.

I did Brownies which I could walk to in the village and I had flute lessons. Everything else like choir, orchestra and sports clubs which I did was provided by school so free and I could walk home from school which was important as we only had one car which my dad had for work.

I did yes. I did Sunday school when I was very young. I believe this was just to give my nan a break.
We did horse riding when I was about 8 (very early 80s) because there was a stables near us. We also did trampolining at the local leisure centre. Which seems a bit random but that's what there was! I was shit at it.
Then I was offered violin lessons free so I did that at school for a year.
Then I went to boarding school and did piano, guitar, horse riding (for a bit but I hated it) and modern dance. I did guides for a bit but got kicked out (can't remember why)

Yes.
choir
various instruments
had a pony so did pony club

I remember going to lots of barn dances - it was great fun!

I did swimming, choir, horse riding, chess club (my dad ran it) and hockey. I didn’t take to Brownies.

At various times and for various periods of time I did singing, Irish dancing, horse riding, martial arts, a French club for a short time, and orchestra.

Swimming
Brownies
Piano

As a music teacher I can tell you that it's gone crazy. Even the last 20years and kids are doing way more. Jack of all trades master of none...

No. But were were WC with little money, so I sang in school choir, played football outside and went swimming at the local pool but no lessons.
Our kids have music lessons, sports lesson and tutors. Which they frequently moan about! Find it hard not to get annoyed at them sometimes!

70s here.. l did Girl guides ( l loved it) Church choir practice and Gymnastics.
My daughters 80s and 90s went Majorettes and Brownies but weren't keen.. too much bullying.
And that was by the leaders not the girls.
Then the Majorettes leader got jailed for abusing the girls.

I took my daughters swimming every week from being 6 weeks old.
They also did with their kids.. one of best thing anyone can do.. could save your life.. we all still go now.

Yes, I did Brownies, dancing, and gymnastics. As a teenager I went to guides and the local am/dram. I was an 80's bairn and 90's teenager and most kids did some form of after school activity.

Nope came home from school, watched telly and ate snacks waiting for parents to come home from work.

I did ballet and tap at primary because my mum wanted me to do it. I was terrible at it so changed to gymnastics and then to trampolining. My dad would take my sister and I swimming pretty much every Sunday morning.

When I was a teenager I went to weekly youth club at the local church hall and played pool and darts and rounders on the green in the summer I did live in a city though, so I could get myself places easily.

The local library would run (free) clubs and outings in the holidays which I used to go to with my friends; things like art club, chess club, creative writing workshops or trips to the museums (bring a packed lunch and pay your own tube fare).

My son does way more than I ever did - he does tennis, basketball, rugby, youth theatre and chess and is out every day at something or other.

I had swimming lessons til I was around 10 or 11 because it was seen as a life skill and important, which I agree with. I went to Guides for a few years and CCF as a later teenager. They were things I wanted to do. I went to one dance lesson and cried as I was nervous, whisked away and never taken back. I had no idea you could have music lessons or anything like that and my parents probably couldn’t afford it anyway. Underlying a lot of my mums parenting choices at that time though was the mentality that “it’s not for the likes of us” and there was little ambition to expand opportunities or thinking into a wider and better life, probably learned from their own parents and accepting rather than questioning the box you were supposed to fit in to.
My dds have tried all sorts from scuba diving to singing, and have settled on their favourites now, one dances and the other gymnastics and acro, both play piano.
I think they result is that they have more social and personal confidence, skills that won’t leave them, a wider friendship group and grounding and accidentally good posture 😂.

Does it matter if kids rounded jack of all trades and aren't masters of stuff. They are kids.

So few will ever earn a penny from sports or music that having lots of fun is more important.