How many hobbies/activities do your DC do? Where do you draw the line?

[reddaisy]

DD, 6, does ballet, Rainbows, French club (at school during lunch) and swimming.

She has now asked to do football and learn the piano!

I want her to have interests and she has stuck at all of the ones she already does and is doing well, she never asks not to go so I have no problems there.

The football she could do for no extra cost (she currently goes to a CM that evening and could do the activity instead for the same price) but I just read a thread which said how expensive piano lessons can be which shocked me!

The hobbies don't take over our life, yet, but I just wondered what others do and how do you decide what to let them try? I said to DD that if she wanted to try piano she might have to drop one of her other hobbies (apart from swimming which is a must) and she got upset because she loves them all apparently!

My dd is 9 and in year 4. She does 4 dance classes, French, Spanish, brownies, clarinet, piano and gymnastics. All of these are after school. DS who is 8 does taekwando twice a week, cubs, football 3 times a week, guitar and badminton. Dd2 is 4 and does swimming lessons (older 2 have just stopped these), ballet and horse riding.

It seems like I am just a taxi service after school running them all around. However, they are only young once and I will encourage whatever they want to do.

Drummersmum, I am going to try and ignore that as waiting until she is 8 will be much cheaper.

I agree that some activities can't be left until 8 such as ballet (which DD already does) and gymnastics which she doesn't do but would love to.

Myfourblondies - boy you are busy! I assume you don't work to be able to fit in all of those activities?

I do feel that the more they try at this age, the higher the likelihood they have of finding something that might turn into a lifelong passion.

I disagree with drummersmum as do all piano teachers and musicians I asked before my dc started. They maintained they needed to be at least 7 and a fairly fluent reader to be able to get anything out of piano lessons. If you think about it, you are asking them to read 2 different lines of music at the same time - 1 in treble and 1 in bass clef - and play those 2 different things with 2 hands at the same time..... quite a skill set!

That is the kind of thing I read about, BackforGood.

Also, from a practical point of view, there won't be space in her room for the keyboard until she grows up and I can get rid of a hamper full of dressing up things. I might take lessons at the same time and get myself a new hobby at the same time!

Mine do too many (I think), but I can't get them to give any up.

Dd (10) does: Mon - drama and clarinet, tues - piano, weds - choir, thurs - gym, sat - gym, sun - hockey and swimming.

Ds (11) does: Mon - rugby, weds - sax and band, thurs - bass and lead guitar, fri - Tae Kwon do, Sat - sports for school, sun - rugby and swimming.

Both also cycle competitively whenever there are suitable races.

The hobies do take over our lives and I would love them to give many of them up. The only thing they do together is swimming so dh and I are always in different places at the weekend. In addition, once you fit in the homework and music practice, there is little time left. The odd evening when we end up with nothing on, feels really wierd. If I was doing it all again, I think I would definitely have said no to a second musical instrument and maybe made them focus on a single sport.

Fanny Waterman thinks they start too late... www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/21/uk-pianists-lagging-behind-renowned-music-teacher

Dd 7 does piano, ballroom dancing and singing in private, swimming and choir at school. I think it is enough and we will stick to 3 activities outside school. This gives her enough time to do her homework and have down time when she does what she wants.

With regards to piano some children are wasting their time (and their money) starting early as they are not able to concentrate and don't progress that fast compared to an older beginer.

Dd though loves piano, started at 6 (one week after turning 6) she is already taking her grade 1 exam, today she had an hour lesson and no problem concentrating. At the rythm she is moving (very fast says her teacher) I find it hard to believe that an 8 yo will catch up with her so quick just because they progress faster.

Piano requires practice though, we started with 10 min a night and now it is more like a daily activity in its own at 30 min ( sometimes more) practice a night.

My dd would have really struggled with piano lessons at 6 as she has such small hands!

Re taking up ballet - starting when you are a bit older is fine, particularly for boys, who very often don't start until their teens.

bigbluestars I can't even think of 7 styles of dancing requiring different types of shoes!

I started piano at 4 and took grade 1 at 6 if I remember right. When I started secondary school I was still only grade 3 so other children did catch up with me, ok I wasn't a natural but I wasn't bad either. So whilst starting early can be a good thing and starting late can delay progress slightly I don't think it is necessarily bad to start an instrument later.

with dancing I have noticed in my daughters school if they take it up later then providing they concentrate and work hard at it then they just skip the earlier grades and end up either in the grade their age is doing or at most 1 grade lower so I don't think it is a huge problem.

mine were 4 and 6 when they started dancing which I realise is still young but most of the others had been doing it since they were tiny, it hasn't made any difference so far because my 2 work hard and are ready to do it.

nonickname- it has come as a surprise to me too!!

DD has-
split sole soft ballet shoes for class
full sole ballet shoes for forthcoming intermediate ballet exam ( a requirement)
pointe shoes
cuban heel character shoes for show club
jazz shoes
tap shoes
split sole street dance shoes.

oh crumbs - that must cost a fortune.

at the moment we are still just on tap shoes and normal ballet shoes. mind if they do start spanish dancing they will need erm whatever shoes you wear for spanish dancing so that will be another pair and if DD1 does manage to get into panto later this year she will need jazz shoes.

I feel we've possibly already crossed the line. Activities and lessons are every single day (I won't list them all here - ballet and gym related), they have taken over. Financially it costs a fortune; more than some mortgage payments every month

My DDs do 3 dance lessons each in the week each plus a few hours on Saturday for festival rehearsals and they both have swimming lessons.
How much is too much and where to draw the line, depends on how much running about you are willing to do and cost.
We have two free afternoons in the week, which for me is a must to allow time for homework and just general downtime. I still find it totally exhausting TBH.

I have a rough guide that each child learns one instrument and does one physical extra-curricular activity outide school. I also pay for a drama course during the summer holidays. Then they can do whatever they want to/can fit in at school.
So DD (7) does ballet, and has recently added tap but that still counts as one as they classes are one after the other, and learns the piano. She will be doing a recorder club at school.
DS (13) learns the piano and fences. At school he is a member of the scrabble club, book group, and writers' group. He also auditions for any play that is being put on and next year is going to ask if he can set up a bastketball team.

Ds1 is 15 and does piano and football and cricket
Ds2 is 9 and does cubs, football and cricket
Dd is 13 and does dancing x2, football, cricket x3 (on Sundays that is an hour away)
So on their own, not too much, but all 3 together and both of us working is a nightmare. Like someone else said, factor in something unexpected and we have huge problems!!
They all love it though, especially Dd who is out every day except Thursday and Friday and we get bored when things aren't on!
I say give it all a go - Dd plays cricket at a high level and I'm glad we gave her the chance :)

I would definitely recommend the piano and honestly you don't have to be musical yourself to encourage and support music.
I don't think 6 is too young, I have a friend whose ds has just done grade 6 piano and he has just turned 7.
Now he and his sister practice for hours, but the point is neither parent knows anything about music at all.
One of my dh pupils has just got into a specialist music school, her parents know nothing about music.
I wouldn't push at this age but not too young to hae lessons and make music fun.

Personally, I believe the younger you can learn an instrument the better. Having small hands or a short concentration span shouldn't be a barrier. My DD is 3 (4 in June) and has been learning piano since last September (Suzuki method). Her lesson this week was 40 minutes long and she concentrated and worked through all of it. Her teacher does vary the lesson length depending on her focus on the day and it works very well. She loves learning and is always very excited on piano day! She also reminds me that she needs to practice every day.....!

Same DD also does French, ballet, swimming and group music. She is due to go to Reception in September and thinks the best thing about that is that she will be old enough for tap lessons as well as ballet.

I won't get started on her older brother's list of activities....

My kids were pretty busy at primary age with extracurricular stuff most days. It got busier at secondary!

Only dd2 at home now and she thinks she does too much sometimes - gcse year - as she doesn't get to watch tv much...lol.

Try the activities and see how she gets on. My only caution would be make sure she knows that she'll have to finish the term or what ever if it's prepaid, but that if it isn't working out she can stop , and as a working mum relying on childcare I'd be very wary of using football club instead of childminder - you'll loose the minding slot, so when the club gets cancelled at late notice, moves night, or just stops you'll be in the child care poop!

My six year old has three ballet classes (three different schools! ISTD, RAD and IDTA), private lesson, tap X2, modern jazz, theatre craft, gymnastics then comps. She's about to take fiddle lessons also. We're run off our feet. When she's too tired, or we;re too tired, or she's not enjoying it, that's where we would draw a line.

oh gosh alinacj, does she not get confused with the different ballet? Out of interest how do the grades compare between them, I mean is she primary in all 3 or different in different?

We are about to start dance style number 4 (yet more money) so will be doing 4hrs of dancing a week (plus the musical theatre and drama) it is going to be in 2x3.5hr sessions and 1x0.5hr session.

She's in primary for RAD and ISTD. Grade 1 for IDTA.

No, not really confusing, not at present anyway. She just thinks of them as different dances to be done differently. I don't think we'll continue with all three indefinitely, though. I think that would get too much as classes increase with the grades.

Exhausting reading some of these lists!

DD (6) does ballet, DS (8) does gymnastics. Once a week.

This term they're both doing an after school sport club too but it's only a 4 week thing.

I suppose the exercises must all be covering the same sort of things alinacj. interesting though she is a higher grade for IDTA, that is what I have found with all our kids friends who do IDTA, they are always on higher grades younger.

I honestly don't know how you do it those of you with so many activities (especially if more than 1 child). I find out timetable bad enough. the kids would do more although I think they would miss having time to play with their toys or occasionally watch tv but it would be me who would struggle the most. I find everything a rush, rushing to work after dropping them at school, rushing home, sorting snacks, preparing dinner, making sure the right outfits are washed for the right days, right kit bag, right hair style, right props if needed, right child and so on.

Can I ask to learn the piano do you need one at home to practice on? Would a keyboard be a similar think or no good?

I'm interested in looking for piano lessons for DD2 at some point but don't have the money or room to buy a piano.

Thanks.

The activities mine do are:

DD1(13) - taekwon-do x 3 a week, keyboard lessons in school and church youth club once a week

DD2(6) - younger church youth club, rainbows, swimming lesson and gymnastics

DD3(4) - younger church youth club, swimming lessons and gymnastics

DD2 says she wants to stop going to rainbows so I have said to give it until Easter and if she still feels the same she can stop.