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.

70s - 80s. Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Girls Brigade, piano and clarinet lessons Saturday music school, orchestra and choir etc at secondary school, ballet and tap when tiny.

I grew up in the 90s and did swimming, rainbows/brownies/ guides, music lessons and dancing (didn’t do dancing for that long maybe a year).

I did art classes & swimming. Hated dancing, gymnastics & Brownies. I only went to the latter, with a friend who was in it, and thought it was like being in the Army. No from me!

Ballet, tap, brownies, swimming, judo, gymnastics, later horse riding but not for long because I am scared of horses!!
We weren't posh either, and I'm very grateful for the sacrifices my parents made to make these things happen

Brownies, swimming and as a teenager I played football

Yes loads. Ballet, 2 x choirs, swimming, woodwind group, orchestra, saturday morning music school, guides. And no I wasn't very good at any of that stuff, just enjoyed it. My poor parents!

I was born in 86 and I did piano lessons from age 11 but otherwise nothing else. Money was certainly tight but I don't remember being bothered.

No.

Oh! Swimming lessons yes.

And horse riding. So...I take back my no!

Yes, Brownies, swimming, gymnastics, played 2 instruments (although had lessons on one of them through school).

I did ballet and tap but hated it.
Church club during school holidays.
Horse riding at the weekends (when I stopped ballet).

No but I grew up in a rural area and there wasn't really anything unless we drove to the next town which was 15 miles away

Swimming
Brownies
Ballet
Violin (really badly)
Badminton
Table tennis
Piano

Some of these activities were free or cost peanuts.

Ooh and country dancing club; that was the best. Cumberland Square 8!

I went to Brownies until i was 10 and then a dance class for about 4 years. I feel one evening a week was enough and certainly don't feel as though i missed out on anything.

Ballet for 4 years in the local village hall. Half heartedly tried "modern" dance at 15 with my best friend but we would just skip and go smoke behind the building and flirt with some boys. We lived in the countryside and our parents didn't have much money either. I went to "summer camp" a few times (between 1 week and 1 month).

Was pushed into Girls Brigade (like brownies but more God-bothering and also free) by my mum but hated it with a passion. It was a Wednesday night which meant missing Dallas on the telly. Went for about a year and whined so much I was allowed to leave.

Didn't do anything else as I was "odd" (likely ASD but that wasn't a thing in the 80s really) and we were poor.

Neither of my kids were huge on extra curricular stuff either - DD did pretty much nothing and DS tends to start things and give up.

I did (over the course of my childhood, not all at once and none to a particularly high level).gymnastics, ballet, tap, art classes, circus skills, violin lessons, drama, fencing, school choir, sign language and philosophy evening classes, guides and Duke of Edinburgh (for which I also did conservation volunteers).

I did piano lessons, Girls Brigade and tennis lessons. All chosen by my parents. I wanted to do netball but they didn't want to spend their Saturdays driving around to sport.

Yes, I did Ballet, Modern and Tap and also Brownies and then Guides. Also did choir and roller skating when older. I remember most of the girls in my class doing Brownies. At Grammar school many girls did horse riding and musical instruments/choir as well as dance.

My eldest did karate, gymnastics, Beavers and then Cubs.
My youngest used to do Rainbows, then Brownies. She did Ballet and Modern for a few years then switched to gymnastics. She also does horse riding and plays the violin.

So I would say we have done similar amounts.

I think it's more of a money thing. Many DC from poorer families now do no extra curriculers.

Yes. I tried ballet, gym and horse riding at different times - none of which lasted. (I think gym lasted three weeks!)
I did swimming for years and loved it.
I also started Brownies and stuck with the guide movement until I left to go to uni by which time I was a helper with a brownie pack.
And music. That was my big thing. I started Piano aged 7, flute aged 9, saxophone aged 14. I learned them all out of school but played in all the bands etc in school.

I also did swimming lessons and both mine did pre-school swimming lessons before they started lessons at school.

This made me laugh! Chuck in neighbours and brookside too, and that's my childhood