What HOBBIES do your children have?

[roisin]

DS2 (nearly 7) has just started piano and it's fantastic. It gives him an extra interest to explore and develop, and it's quite time-consuming too.

DS1 (8.5) is passionate and enthusiastic about everything at school, and is very academic. In his spare time he just develops his school interests - science, literature, humanities. Like any other 8 yr-old he loves the PC, gameboy, and TV, but has no other "outside" interests.

So what could he do to broaden his world a bit? He's not musical and not sporty (tried a few and nothing fits so far). We'd like something that will be time-consuming but quite cheap.

Is there a children's book club where you live Roisin? There's one here, meets once a month and they often get childrens' authors visiting. My dd goes to a drama class and it's mostly boys so the things they do tend to cater for that.

my neice, since the age of four, has had:
school every day.
four nights a week, dancing classes.
one evening and overnight at her grandparents house, and spends the next day there.
Every fortnight-ish, a whole day at a dance competition.

Does anyone think her parents want her out of the house????????!!!!!!!!!!!

Loads of ideas here - thanks. I will run them by ds1 and see what he fancies. It's good to realise we're not the only ones in the same sort of boat.

Sparkle, that's interesting about scuba diving. Ds did a snorkelling crash course and loved it. But the British Scuba Diving Club (which has a branch here) won't accept them for basic training until they are 14.

He's done a bit of orienteering, and enjoyed it. But to join a club would involve quite a bit of travelling on a regular basis, which I don't really want to get into.

We tried the library reading group, but although aged 8-14, it was actually mainly teenagers, and ds didn't fit in and didn't enjoy it.

A piano is a great thing. In general, when children are passionate about something, it is a pleasure for parents. I don't forbid children to try something new, but they often grasp at everything at once. In connection with quarantine, there are only online classes, so both the piano and the programming club also go online.
I'm sure you will find something suitable.

If he is intelligent and likes solving problems - get him to learn bridge. If your local club is open they will have beginners classes running regularly