What do children do after a 3.15 school pick-up until bedtime?

[Thoseyummyspicycheesethings]

3.15-3.30…what do you/they do for the rest of the evening?
Dc has piano one evening, just for half an hour, other hobby is at the weekend. Sometimes she plays with a friend, if they’re home (same street) but mainly her two friends are home later and too late to play.
We have a snack after school, she plays in the garden, does homework, dinner later, maybe plays football with Dh or a quick bike ride around the block. Mainly she’s bored and looking for things to do until bedtime at 8 ish
As a child, my mum picked me up at this time and I remember being happy to just relax at home and watch tv, I had no clubs.

If you pick up at this time, what do they/you do until bedtime?

The OP's DD is 7! She can't exactly make her own plans independently

Mine is 9. Has a tutor once a week soon to be twice. Martial arts class one evening, after school club another (usually till half 5), does craft clubs x2 on 2 days. Does swimming on Friday. The rest of the time is practice musical instrument, work book work, shower, dinner, lego,crafting, 30 mins of TV with a snack etc.

My eldest did after school club and every sport and club available every night.
My youngest hates all of that and won't attend anything and is quite happy amusing himself at home, we go for a walk in the woods or to the park for an hour most nights if its nice weather after I finish work.

Are there no other clubs she wants to do?

DS 7
Mon, Tuesday and Thursday- 320-415- tv then Jiu Jitsu until 530, home, dinner, Lego, little bit of PlayStation, book bed.

Wed- tv after school, then a dog walk usually, dinner, Lego etc book bed.

Friday- footie lessons after school until 420, tv then dinner, Lego etc book bed.

Saturday morning also has Jiu Jitsu and Sunday morning it’s swimming lessons so the tv/playstation in between the reading and Lego doesn’t bother me!

Mine did at that age. Admittedly we live in an area with loads of kids so obviously different if you have to drive them to friends houses.

It's a long time ago for me but mine used to get home, have something to eat and play, often with friends in the garden in good weather, otherwise indoors.
We'd have a meal together around 7pm then wind down, get ready for bed, watch TV, chat.
Obviously there was homework later that had to be fitted in.

Ballet/tennis/brownies/football/ice skating/piano practice/swimming. Throw in the occasional playdate, running errands with me and the odd trip to the park when it's sunny and there's not really much time left over.

At age 7 mine had no after school clubs. They just played.

Honestly, whatever she wants, she's been at school all day. Reading, running about, playing out, gaming etc sometimes we manage a walk with her camera but we have a young baby now so it's mainly routines like cleaning cooking for me. It's good for them to be bored and make their own entertainment.

For us it’s 2 school pick ups (one at 3:20, one not long after), a long commute home, empty and wash lunch boxes, remake lunch boxes, work together to do any house work and cook, all eat together, clear up from dinner, do any homework, little bit of free time to play outside etc if there’s time, everyone showers/ baths and gets ready for bed and then reading in their bedrooms ready for a very early bedtime because we leave the house at 6am every day for our commute to work and school. It’s hard work to get everything done in time.

We also live in an area with lots of kids but I like to know where my 7 year old is. Controversial I know.

Gosh I always run out of time in the evenings, I wish we had time to be bored! You must be organised, it always takes us an age to get home, make dinner, eat, do bedtime routines!

So if your 7 year old said can I go play at lily's and lily lived a door or 2 away you would say no. Cut the cord. This is why teens and young adults can't cope in the real world they've always had a parent hovering over them

mine are young adults now but had after school club until 5.30 3 days a week. They also had rainbows / cubs once a week, swimming once a week and DS had football once a week plus weekend matches. They always played in the garden every day, and played with toys. Later gaming and laptop. I didn’t regulate screen time as they did have a good mix, and both did extremely well academically.

My DD7 refuses to join any clubs or activities as she finds school tiring. She does drawing, writes song lyrics, plays with toys, dresses up, goes on the trampoline, watches TV/ crafting YouTubers with me or her brother's and plays Roblox. She's happy with this and the time seems to pass quickly.

Couple of club type things.
park / dog walk
play in garden
eat and eat and eat
play video games
watch kids tv (lots of that in the winter!)

I feel quite strongly that kids really benefit from unstructured time where they can CHOSE what to do.. I am the antithesis of the rigidly scheduled club/activity every day type parent I think! Mine also do no school work at home.

Trampoline!! For hours!!

my primary age DS has played for a bit in the garden today and is now watching the minions movie. After dinner we’ll do his spellings and times tables. Then he can get back to doing what he likes, then bath then bed. He has one after school club per week.

My two do some clubs:

M - Cubs and Beavers
T - Grandad comes for tea and stays until 7
W - Club at the local church (followed by meeting friends in the park in the summer)
Th - Swimming lessons
F - Sometimes they do youth club, sometimes we have a movie night

In between this, they read, do homework, watch a bit of TV, go in the garden and are allowed a bit of screen time a few days per week.

Piano practice - 20 mins every evening

(I'm a piano teacher, you can't do too much piano practice!)

I’ve also got a seven year old. And we don’t have much free time after school.
His schedule is:
Monday - art club at school until 5:15
Tuesday - cello/orchestra lessons from 4:15-5:45
Wednesday - 4-5 tennis lessons
Thursday - nothing, we usually have play dates
Friday - swimming lessons 4:30-5

During the week he usually plays cello, reads/does homework and plays with his toys. We don’t do screens during the week so he is bored sometimes but I think that’s a good thing.

Play on the street with friends

Bit snide

I think parents underestimate how much time children spend sitting down at school from Year 1 onwards.

It's mentally tiring for them but they really need to move their bodies a lot.

If you are finding they are bored (I struggled with this time slot also - as often other kids are busy) - I would put them in some sort of adfter school club a couple of days,

for me the best afternoons - especially in this weather - were when they got to really have fun playing with friends either home or at the park.

My children are out of school now however both play elite sports so their days are filled with work, training and games and university for ds1.

Ds2 is 16 now however has a full time apprenticeship however his days normally start early in the morning and finish late evening.

5.15 -6.30am - gym work, this could be weightlifting, conditioning, cardio or functional training.

7-8.30 shower / travel to work

5pm home and tea

6.15 -9.30pm - on field training - strength training, explosive plyometrics, high-intensity anaerobic conditioning, and agility drills, both team and individual training

He does this 5-6 days a week during pre - season and has one day off a week for recovery and in season is 4-5 days a week. (weekend/ evening games during pre and in season)

When he was smaller the training times were less however the older they get, they increase in frequency and intensity.

He does his apprenticeship core work during his allocated working hours.

Ds1 who is in a different sport to ds2 , has a less demanding schedule however his training is mainly 2-3 days a week including weekends, he is also in a full time apprenticeship and at university 2 evenings a week.

For me, they are well disciplined and both are exceptionally drive and hardworking, they are also in competition with each other of who will earn the big bucks first 🙈 😂