Organised activities or free time? - which was most important to you in your childhood?

[coffeepot]

Looking back on your childhood ? which was the most important for you ? organised activities, clubs and lessons or free time spent playing?
I?m wondering about whether I have the balance right with my dd.
At primary school I did brownies, choir, piano, ballet, netball. Looking back non of these were really important. The part of my life that has meant the most is the time I spent playing outside ? building dens, floating balls down streams, riding bikes, playing marbles with neighbours, building mini worlds in the garden and later exploring the local park and footpaths. Of course I also played indoors, watched television etc. but it is the outdoor adventurous type of unsupervised play I remember.
By secondary school clubs and organised activities were more important to me.
I wondered how other people would rate the relative importance of organised activities and outdoor free time at primary age in their childhood (if you can remember that far back!)

A vital skill is learning how to deal with boredom! Long car journeys, long meetings, tedious first jobs, etc etc.

Boredom is also often a prerequist for many forms of creativity!

For me the free-time was most important - playing with friends down the waggonways where my parents lived and going out for long cycle rides. You learn SO much from having make your own rules and setting your own boundaries. It's much more exciting than being told what to do and where to go.

I'm really glad my parents didn't stop me going out drinking when I was underage. Having said that, they always came out to pick me up from clubs and always retrieved me from situations where I really messed up (like when I was stuck in France aged 17 after a holiday which turned into a bit of a disaster).

Agree with Gardener though - if you have a dialogue with your kids, you can see pretty easily if they need more/less organised activity.

We did none by the way, not a single organised activity except a once a week piano lesson but this was the 1960s. So obviously I remember the other things.

If I asked my children at university they'd say a mixture. As teenagers the girls lived in the country, at the stables, in fields, woods, alone without us around. I am glad they had that freedom but it arose because they started having riding lessons when they were 7 or 8 so in a sense if flowed on from the organised activity.

I tink the things they love now like skiing, lacrosse, sailing, the gym or whatever all came about through activities they had when they were younger. My younger ones spend a lot of time outside.

In general I think primary school aged children should not be over organised. You need to reach a position when they say I'm bored and you say - oh good, that's good for you, go away.

Definitely free time, in fact I loathed organised activities. I loved nothing more than playing in the garden or wood with my brothers or friends, making "rockets", searching for wild flowers, watching insects biking or whatever.
There was a "play scheme" in my village over the summer holidays, where lively women would round up the kids and get us to play ball games. It was so dull.
But I did love my hobbies-swimming and dancing, although I loathed others (piano)

watching insects, biking or whatever

not

watching insects biking...

Doing my own thing for sure.Had piano lessons and that was it. So many kids can't keep themselves entertainned anymore - i'm sure it's because they are told what they'll be doing next from the minute they get up til the minute they go to bed.

All the children in my family loved organised activities and went to any club or activity going. Especially summer holiday clubs - we went to music weeks, sports schemes, etc, without necessarily having any innate ability in these things.

we also all did lots of scouts/guides, music classes, sports classes, drama, swimming, church youth clubs, all during term time. at primary and secondary level.

Free time definitely, although there wasn't the same organised activities in the 70's as there is today.

My two DDs (6) do very little that is organised - just one Fit Club on a Monday evening after school. I can't understand friends/neighbours whose every waking hour (it seems!) is spent ferrying their kids to various clubs.

One of them collects her 6 year old from school, gives her a sandwich in the car as they drive to swimming, goes straight on to disco dancing and then drops her off at rainbows - far far too much. Where's the chilling time?