Was anyone else not ferried around as a child to various clubs?

[Imgonnaleaveyou58]

I have one sibling and we were driven to a trampolining club one evening a week by our parents, which we appreciated. These days kids seem to have eye-wateringly expensive hobbies on 4 or 5 evenings a week which they're driven all over the place for? It's important to partake in hobbies and sporting activities but I think the kids are spoilt tbh.

No kid needs to be taken to clubs every single night of the week, they're allowed to be bored/at home/entertain themselves sometimes and parents are allowed to spend money on themselves and do things for them.
I just think it's all gone mad.

Totally the same (though from 10 and it was a small city so cycled mainly). I was scouted for athletics but the idea of my parents driving me there every week (it was about a 15 min drive along a motorwat) was an absolute no.

I was a child of the 70s/80s I did guides and had some piano lessons both of which I walked to.
We lived very ruraly dancing, swimming etc were an hours drive away I think my parents would have taken me to clubs if they were nearby but as it was time and money didn't allow.

@Lilyhatesjaz Hiw can you live very rurally and walk to guides? I can see a neighbour might give piano lessons but we have no pavements where we live and it’s all narrow country lanes and 45 minutes walk from the guide hut!

We did some things after school. Some things at school too.

But not constantly ferried about.

I did Scouts and St Johns Ambulance for a while. One of my sisters did air cadets and my brother did the sea cadets.

My son is SEND and I try to take him to a few things but they're few and far between. He's not fussed either way. I'm happy to let him lead.

I lived in a village of a few hundred people so there was a primary school, there was guides and a lady taught piano, more cornish village than middle of nowhere, plenty of pavements. but secondary school was an hour on the bus as was the nearest swimming pool and any other organised clubs.

My experience (grew up in 60s/70s in a rural area) there weren't that many clubs to be driven to, and if the family did have a car the dad had gone to work in it, and even if he hadn't, the mum didn't drive. My mom never learned to drive.

I had a largish circle of friends that I played out with most nights. Some of the girls went to brownies and some of the boys did cubs but not the majority, and the scout/brownie hut was in the park, in walking distance.

I’m mid-50s. We grew up without a car so definitely no being ferried anywhere. I had a piano lesson that I walked to alone from about 9 years old, and a drama club in my teens that I got the bus to. Makes me a bit sad really, we did nothing together as a family at weekends, though we did have nice holidays abroad in my mum’s home country. My parents both worked full time with big commutes and there was no coming to watch nativity, sport days etc, and we went to school even when pretty ill.

I lived rurally as a child. I did karate (started at school clubs) and then that progressed to being taken places. I did piano and walked to the teacher's house but this eventually ended up through school so I could do a different instrument. I did swimming lessons at school a lot (once a week for a whole term) and brownies/guides.

I think some of this reflects the change in school budgets. When I was a child, the range of visitors and music service lessons was wider and school provided swimming lessons for a large amount of time so you could actually get good. We did lifesaving certificates for long distances! Now, my children don't really have that as an option and swimming is for two weeks every two years - not frequent enough to sustain progress without lessons in your own time.

My child is starting school and will be doing 2 after school clubs and ferried by grandparents (which is lucky for us) and a Saturday morning. Long term I want her to do some piano lessons but I'm hopeful that the school might offer those if you pay for it.

In the 80s my mum didn’t drive so I walked to swimming lessons and brownies. My dad would drive me to brass band practice. As a teen I walked to netball and athletics which was an hours walk.

My daughter has never been interested in anything, she did swimming lessons and athletics for a year, I’d have loved her to have done more.

@ElizaSchuylerHamilton243 You are highly unlikely to get piano lessons at school, unless it’s a private school. Many state schools don’t have a piano. If they do have one it’s probably not used for lessons. We didn’t have peripatetic piano teachers either. It’s usually brass, wind, or guitar. A good prep will have a decent music dept and a private secondary should have pianos but some won’t. When dc is 6 it’s time to start looking around for piano lessons.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner Thank you, I'll bare that in mind :) My kids' school is in a big city where a company comes in to teach keyboard, drums, guitar and singing on a monthly subscription during the school day. So the school don't have any of the resources or a member of staff to do it but there are lessons available if that makes sense?

Edit: To clarify, the company work across 200 schools not just that one school to make it affordable!

When I had my kids I was adamant that they weren't going to be doing clubs every night but fast forward 10 and 7 years and they do something 4 nights a week each 🤦‍♀️ It just gradually happened over time. It is expensive but as long as they're still happy doing it and me and DH are happy to take them to the clubs I don't see the problem.

Do you have children @Imgonnaleaveyou58 ?

I don’t much like it when children are described as spoiled. If they do activities it is because their parents have decided to book and arrange them. If the activities are difficult to get to and the parents have signed them up then they will need to get them there. Should the children be grateful that the parents drive them?

I know several children who do multiple activities an evening, which seems like really hard work. I can’t imagine having to do a full day at school then rush to ballet then to gymnastics (say). Plus they then need to do their prep.

It’s always quite awkward when someone suggests that my child does an additional activity and I end up saying that, if anything, I’d like them to drop an activity rather than take up another one. Then (sometimes) they start suggesting ways that I could make it work - I mean, if it were to avert war I would, otherwise I am not going to. There’s no polite way to say that someone’s child is wildly over scheduled so I don’t.

I know what you mean. My family thought it was very funny that I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was ten. However I got my first bike for my tenth birthday - to learn to ride a bike, one needs to have access to one.

Im late 40s. I did ballet and karate at our local church hall five minutes walk from the house so there was no ferrying around needed. I live more or less in the same area but the local classes no longer exist. DDs closest dance school is a 25 minute drive with no direct bus. She loves it and now does classes 3 times a week. I quite like the drive. Its when we have our best chats. And she has plenty time for all the other stuff she wants to do!

Also school curriculums were more balanced with more creativity and physical activities in lesson time.

I have fond memories of the last lesson on Fridays in what then wasn't called y3 on our long term rug making project that ran through the year. Plus all the other crafty projects.

There was less pressure, more time allocated and more budget to support children learning more than the 3Rs which are now prioritised and heavily assessed.

@ElizaSchuylerHamilton243 Yes, there are good services - it’s just when you specifically said piano. Keyboards are different.