What hobbies do your kids have?

[Earlybird]

....and did they develop the interests on their own, or were they influenced by you, or someone else? What age did they begin?

Dd does ballet at nursery and goes to Stagecoach. I suppose you could say these hobbies were defintaly instigated by us as dh is singing teacher and we run the classes.

However she was begging us to allow us to go and she is always practising her dance steps. Occasionally she has been trying to practice her dance warm ups at nursery when the La Jolie Ronde teacher was there doing her stuff and we had to tell dd if she doesn't behave for Madame, she doesn't do ballet that afternoon.

I think ds will enjoy singing and dancing too as he always tries to copy dd and Boogie Beenies but his grandad has influenced him a bit as he loves to dribble and throw a football everywhere. Hopefully he will be sporty and artistic.

my two eldest sons band,
www.theoutcomeband.piczo.com

I dont think swiming counts as all need that as a life skill. ( expensive though, costs a lot for four children)
Once the children get fairly good at swiming or they start lessons at school , I stop paying for local pool lessons.
one child for one term is £51 and lessons are now booked in blocks with out break, and are not based on school terms.
It means that i have to pay for the whole of the summer hols, and miss 2 weeks when we go on family hols.

electric guitar lessons for eldest son.
stagecoach for three years as well. he gave that up when he got more involved in music rather than drama and dance.
third son, cricket, football
second son, golf. (brief football passion, soon died.)
Beavers, cubs and scouts, for all three boys now possible this year explorer scouts for eldest son.
For three years Karate for all ,plus me.
Ballet and brownies for daughter, as well as swiming.
Apart from that general obsession with world cup.
House becoming rather chav like with flags. Draw the line at flags hanging out windows.
Hubby not impressed that we have flags on car, comments like 'you've chav'ed my ride' echo through the house.

still, hobby wise, it doenst cost me much.

DH likes rugby and is hoping ds1 will enjoy it too.

DS1 (4) does Gymbobs, swimming lessons and dance which includes Ballet, tap and jazz.

DS2 (19m) does Tumbletots.

I suppose they are a little young for actual hobbies but by introducing them to the things we have, we hope they will be able to enjoy exercise too.

I wonder if there is stagecoach near us.

ds(6.3yrs) does-
#1 swimming once a week-something I deffinately influenced as I think its important to be confident in water.He has been in swim classessince he was 3yrs
#2 gymnastics-his choice,but I think after the summer hols he will go to judo instead-again his choice.He has been going to gym for mths now
#3 cub scouts.He has just started this but I don't think he will be carrying it on for much longer.He is just too tired and something has to give.

dd1(4.4yrs)does:
#1 swimming.Same reason as ds.She started a year ago when she was 3yrs old
#2 Ballet-her choice and it was a toss up between gym and ballet,she eventually chose ballet.She's been going for 9mthsI will offer her the same choice in sept.

dd2(2.5yrs)
#1 tumbletots.She started when she was 18mths and loves it.
#2 Toddler splash.We have been going to this since she was 1yr old,again for the same reason I gave before about swimming.She will start swim lessons when she is 3yrs

ds1 did drama lesson from 4-7 but got bored. That was my idea.
Now he does cubs and swimming. (both his idea) Ds2 (5.5) does swimming.
DS1 also counts ''collecting rocks, crystals and fossils'' as his hobby. (Which means he lugs rocks home when we are out for walks, claiming they are jet/quartz/real gold)
He and his little brother develop new hobbies all the time. This week they are mostly beating each other up and playing Lord of the Rings :)

dds 1 and 2 (6.5 and 5) both do swimming and tap dancing which were chosen by them. dd1 also does German club and tennis after school. At home they both draw and make things all the time especially cards. dd1 also spends a lot of time on her "fashion designs".

driving me round the bend

DS 7 loves footie and plays twice a week. DD 4 does ballet and will start gymnastics soon.

The little boy next door eats greenflies
[gagging emotion]

all hobbies were chosen by themselves

except dont think the greenflies get much choice

DS1 (will be 7 next month):

• just getting into football, helped by World Cup of course, but keen to play too (has had a couple of kickabouts with Frogs' lovely DS!)

• very very very into wildlife, especially marine animals - not quite sure where this one came from - I think he developed the interest on his own but we have encouraged it by buying and taping things by David Attenborough etc

• reading - helped by school extra reading group that got them reading stuff like Roald Dahl - he's now read the first five Harry Potters

• travel and transport - buses were his first real obsession and although his blazing interest in them has died down now, he's still very interested in travel and transport

All 6 have had swimming lessons -No choice in this. Quite expensive but have borrowed from PIL paid on credit when money was tight.We live near river and canal.So I suppose it doesn't count has a hobby but they all enjoyed gaining badges/certificates.Eldest 2 were members of a swimming club as well......Still doing swimming with the 2 youngest.

DD (grown up now) Did Dancing ....ballet,tap,country,shows...the lot.DH still rants about dance teacher!
She also had music lessons, french,brownies/guides,netball&tennis

All DSs have done/are doing beavers,cubs,scouts.

Football-All tried this with varying degrees of succsses.

Cricket -All still involved.Brilliant sport! Lovely company,sunny weather,lovely family sport!And not at all boring at a junior level!

Badminton--Eldest loved this

Tennis DS3,4,5, very involved (coaching a bit expensive!)

Music DS3&4 Play instuments,DS5 starts in autumn.

French... this is an after school club DS3&4 not over keen (but they,ve got a pushy mum!!!

They have all collected things. This is OK as long as it's cheap!

Pets ....Many & varied...I always end up cleaning feeding when the novelty(sp?) wears off!

DS1, 9,

Physical stuff:

Hockey twice a week
Kickboxing once a week
Archery once a week
Golf, had his own clubs at Easter and goes to the range whenever dp does

Boy stuff:

Star Wars, has stopped watching the dvds everyday, thankfully, but still likes to read about them, play with light sabers, recently went to a convention and bought an original Millenium Falcon still in its box and wrappings, with his birthday money. at the price, even more when he got it home, ripped it open and stcuk all the stickers on it, watched it decrease in value in front of my eyes but then thought he's not going to enjoy it all that much with it sitting in the box!

Science stuff - v interested in atoms, protons etc atm. look stuff up on net and gt books

Reading - avid reader now, Harry Potter, horrible histories, moving into fantasy now. Me and dp read then first and let him if we think they're suitable

Playing out - Takes wooden sword and light sabre and runs around the park with his mates for hours. Climbing trees, rollerblades, bike.

I'm sure I just did brownies and playing in the street when I was his age!

I forgot the war hammer stuff....very much a boy thing!

DD does swimming once a week (agree that it's a life skill). I think she'd like Stagecoach or Perform as it could help with confidence and being more extrovert, so I plan to look into those. She's also expressed an interest in doing an art class, so will see what I can locate. She's fascinated by music, so may look into that too in a year or so. She's 5.6, btw.

DD, 5-
-swimming (like others have said, not optional but she loves it and pretty cheap down at our local leisure centre)
-ballet/tap which she really enjoys but having seen her on stage I don't think she's a natural performer! Nevertheless, she's having fun
-ice skating- she's just started this at her own insistence because her Nana used to skate. At the moment Nana is teaching her but if she keeps it up we'll start her with lessons after the summer
-used to something called Enjoyaball which was a general sports class that did all sorts of games involving kicking, throwing, running, catching, coordination etc. It was terrific but when she decided she wanted to learn to ice skate something had to go!

DS (nearly 3)
-will start swimming as soon as possible but I can't put his name down at the leisure centre until he turns 3 and then the wait is about a year
-Music Box - a terrific music class. He seems to have some aptitude and I may try to encourage him to learn an instrument when he's older. DD also used to do this but a)was bored b)couldn't sing in tune for the life of her (like her mother!)
-DH already trying to teach him rugby-tackles in the garden!!!!

DS is 3 and his main interest is music. He definitely decided this one for himself (made up a sign for 'music' when he was a baby so he could tell us when he wanted some music on) and we have had to sort of limp along behind, not being terribly musical ourselves.

He also likes bike riding and riding on his seat on dp's bike. That one is fairly obviously influenced by dp commuting to work on his bike every day.

His other interests are mowing the grass, cleaning windows, jumping and falling over, joining strangers' football games in the park, and "eating dried snot out of my nose" which he calls down to tell us he's doing while he's mean to be asleep. I can probably claim to have influenced at least some of these.

All three:

swimming, agreed it's a lifeskill so they had no choice, but they (we all) enjoy it. very early age.

karate. We took them along last October, but they were more than willing. Eldest in particular enjoys this.

scouting. Got one each in scouts, cubs and beavers. We took eldest to cubs two years ago (he's now a scout) and the others followed. Middle DS thrives at cubs, and recently took part in a gangshow which he thought was brilliant. Youngest can't wait to move up into cubs in September.

They all support our local footie team and are into football in general, as is DH, whereas I only follow local and national teams. They go to matches very very occasionally.

They all love outdoor activities too.

DS1, 11: athletics club. reading. His choice.

DS2, 9: just started to play the cello, wants to do footie training, just trying to find a slot for it lol. His choice.

DS3, 7: IT after-school club. His choice.

DS2 and DS3 have just started attended junior choir practice - their choice, and DH and myself are completely bewildered by this cos neither of us can sing!!

ooh we've been through many interests!

DD (8)
Swimming, gymnastics (no more), brownies, piano, footy after school, choir after school.

DT (5) DT1 - football, swimming, gymnastics in Sept, french club after school
DT2 swimming, choir, gymnastics.

I like the after school stuff because it;s free!

DD also likes summer drama workshops.

As a family, we do camping and carnival. As individuals though not a lot. DS1 has done Gymnastics, (was told good enough to train at club level... never went back) football (ditto gymnastics scenario); trampolining (um- ditto- can you see a link?) Art {don't know why he refused to go back)
does Sn rugby now, could join the NT team but no point, at least this pressure free variety suits him. Shame though, he really is talented.

DS2- just loves carnival really, so goes once or twice a week with dh, and whilst Sam just hangs around and makes stone iles, DS2 helps out.

Oh and Sam wants to do violin but we can't afford atm.

For drama, we weren't that impressed with Stagecoach - and I've since heard that they are franchised so I think it's pot luck with the area you live in.

My two have been going to Perform for 18 months now and I think it's a much classier operation. They get sticker posters, CDs which are permanently on in the car and the teachers are really friendly and encouraging. It's a bit more expensive than the others but definitely worth it because it seems to concentrate on developing confidence etc. which my youngest is really benefiting from.

The only thing is that Perform is only in and around London currently I think. Here's the website - www.perform.org.uk

Wheelie bin and skip spotting..........

but then he is only just two