Why so keen to get DCs into extra curricular activities?

[sweetmuffins]

This is a post for exactly what the title says.

I'd like to see what other MNers' reasons are/were for introducing their DCs into various activities. Just curious.

Thanks

[Noggie]

Swimming - because I think it's really important to feel confident in the water.
Dancing - because dd1 saw an advert for a local class and asked to go. Five years later she still goes and loves it. Good for fitness. Dd2 recently asked to go to a different type of dance class to her sister - we are keen for her to have improved co ordination and exercise so happy to take her.
Older dd has started brownies- most of her class from school go. She also goes to choir, recorder club and running club at her state school- because she wants to.
Sounds like a lot but usually doesn't feel like it.

[sweetmuffins]

Noggie, it does sound like a lot. But DC are happy and you are happy to provide it. So why not?

[BiddyPop]

Extend social skills, keep active and burn off some of the energy, keep fit, learn to play together and how to lose as well as win, learn some life skills, get different friendship groups, occupy her time after school (we both work FT and afterschool club is less boring if there is an hour of something between school and club), keep her out of our hair at times

DD has ADHD and Aspergers syndrome, which means she has bundles and bundles of energy and also has trouble making and keeping friends. But she is very sporty and also quite intelligent (factual not stealth boast - it's wearing in so many ways!).

So she has done swimming lesson when in crèche (Montessori) and we also did swimming lessons after school up to last year (important life skill).

She did Italian in crèche (Montessori) as 1 babyminder was Italian and gave Monti group an hour of fun/songs/games etc in Italian once a week. A minder in afterschool club when she was in P1/P2 was Spanish and gave optional Spanish classes once a week so DD did that as well. (Not that she remembers either, but when she hears it again she does understand).

Afterschool crèche also had computer class which DD did and loved. We didn't do others on offer there as she wasn't interested (other than playball).

She's always done sports ones. Playball was optional and became mandatory in afterschool crèche. Once she got to P1, school run loads of extra curriculars and she did athletics since then. She's done soccer for 2 years, and gaelic football. She just joined hockey this term (it was in a different school and we couldn't transport but juniors are now in their own school - we'll have a row next year about finding a lift).

School also have chess club and she's done that for a year (won both championships and beaten almost everyone so we'll give it a break for a while). She wanted to do lego club but that clashed with athletics and she wants to go to the schools championships there.

In our school, religious instruction is not done in school but catholic instruction is in school after hours so she does that (Church of Ireland is done in local CofI church and most other religions are done through home/place of worship).

She is also a member of the local gaelic club (gaelic football and hurling) so now does that 2 nights/week (was Sat am's and Wed evenings). Hockey club is Sunday morning (I was a hockey player until DD was 4 mths old). Sailing club is Sat afternoons (she loves water and boats) and sea cub scouts is on Saturday mornings. I grew up messing about in boats (rowing not sailing) and both DH and I were involved in scouting/guiding and enjoyed the adventures and learned a lot of useful things.

Apart from those, DD loves art and we do lots at home, but only do a few drop-in events in a local gallery rather than any formal classes. And baking/cooking. We all go hiking in the mountains, and DD does a fair amount of cycling (used to go to school with au pairs but not feasible at present due to different minders), and DH will take her to weekend clubs on bike a fair bit, occasionally I'll get on my bike too. She reads a lot at home but is not interested in joining school book club at the moment (clashes with hockey and chess). She has a guitar (I learned piano and guitar) and I am teaching her a little at home, but we can't find a teacher or time for lessons outside home, maybe she'll get into guitar class in school (very small numbers and very popular). We don't have room for a piano. She'd also like to do Coder DoJo but the local ones are full - there is talk of setting up one in school but needs more volunteers (DH has put his name down).

So there are lots of things we'd like to do beyond what we're doing - but at the same time, we are pretty fully extended. We have done some things to try, and dropped either because they weren't enjoyable or because we'd come on a fair amount and wanted other things more, or had to drop computers as we left the crèche (DD wanted to do lots of school ECAs so we put her into afterschool club in school - crèche only collected at end of school day not after ECAs so we were down to 2 days crèche and it was getting unrealistic).

We're also lucky that DD is our only DC, and we have enough to fund these activities. Our biggest enemy is time. But there are also limits to what DD can manage, and what we can manage outside of things available through school.

[Openup41]

I attended Brownies and Guides. As a shy awkward child I would have benefited greatly from attending extra curriculum activities. My dm did not have the time or money.

I want to give my dc as many opportunities as possible - to open their world that little bit more.

I believe it helps children socially and is great for the less confident.

There can be overload though. No more than two activities a week for my dc.

[Sgtmajormummy]

I took a good look at what we can offer as a family (skills and interests), what the school curriculum offers and what is missing to make our kids into balanced all-rounders. Mine did swimming until they were confident, then chose a sport they were interested in, to do non-competitively. Both do music, pushed by me for the first two years until it became part of who they are and impossible to give up. I am willing to pay for extra courses not given by the school (DS is learning coding) and believe money spent on education is never wasted. Community activities are also taken into consideration (clean our beach or youth weeks) but overtly religious activites are not. Seems to work for us.

[antumbra]

I encourage my DD to take up dancing because she was so shy.

She now does 18 hours of dance classes a week outside school.

[taxi4ballet]

DD started activities to keep her occupied and burn off all her boundless energy. She was one of those small children who go to bed at 9 every night and wide awake and raring to go again by 7 - she didn't seem to need as much sleep as friends' dc's and we had to find her something to do.

[sweetmuffins]

Wow! You guys do loads for your kids. BiddyPop, my DD is the only child too so I could actually spend more on her activities. I'm thinking of signing her up for piano too because she has requested this. After she's mastered swimming, she wants to do ballet as some of her friends are doing this and she wants to fit in.

Thanks for your helpful responses, guys.

[Groovee]

Having grown up in guiding I wanted dd to experience what I had. I got Ds into beavers on the hope he would become more confident as he was horrendously shy.

Dd asked to go to ballet because Fizz in the Tweenies did it, then she fell in love with flamenco dancers in Spain. Her ballet school did flamenco so when she was old enough I let her start.

Ds asked dh to take him to lawn bowls and indoor bowling as dh plays and after a year dd asked to join.

The activities they do now they choose to do. They can leave at any point like Ds asked with scouts and football. Dd gave up flamenco after breaking her heel and finding it too sore after her recovery. She gave up ballet once she went to high school but is regretting that now.

[WyrdByrd]

Rainbows/Brownies - hoped that she would make new friends and have some great experiences like I did. Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest group and she didn't fancy starting again elsewhere

Piano - thrust upon her by the in-laws . Curtailed (also by in laws) due to her not practising 3 hours a day showing enough commitment

Church youth club - invited along by a friend at school and has been going ever since.

Basketball club - wanted to go as a couple of her friends were going.

CoderDojo - she's tech mad and wants to work in computer forensics/security when she's older so seemed like a good place to start expanding her skills.

[Susiesue61]

My 3 all do football and cricket, DH and myself are mad about them so that was inevitable. The 2 boys then just do piano (Ds1) and cubs (Ds2).

Dd plays cricket really well so plays at club and county level, which becomes cricket twice a week in winter and 3-4 in summer! She also dances twice a week. She can't bear to have nothing to do. She plays football and rounders at school and last year got roped into athletics although she doesn't want to do that this year.

Individually the ferrying round is manageable but all together, it is tricky. But it keeps them all fit, and they enjoy what they do

[taxi4ballet]

When they start these things you have no idea at all that something that starts as a once-a-week activity can sometimes end up as a vocation...

My dd started ballet when she was 3 and in September she will be starting full-time training on a 3-year degree course in professional dance and performance.

[sweetmuffins]

You all have great reasons for getting your DC signed up for various activities. I'm getting there: on my list in time I think will swimming, Rainbows, piano, karate and ice skating, dance. I enjoy taking her to swimming at the mo as she's progressed so well and I'm so happy. I missed out as a kid but my DD and future kids won't. I'll make damn sure of that.

[YawnyMcYawn]

We used the time for noisy shagging. They were all v light sleepers.

[sweetmuffins]

And I think you would only discover a hidden talent or, as you say, taxi4ballet, a vocation if you actually provide the DC the opportunity to try out various things.

I used to be so envious of my friends in primary school talking about dance or gymnastics. I so wanted to try all these things that people were talking about. It definitely makes for more all-rounded individuals. I'm not an all-rounder by any means. I've done ok career wise but I don't have any hidden talents.

Actually, there's an idea. I will start a thread for people to talk about their own hidden talents. To show a bit of the dark horse in us all!

[YawnyMcYawn]

Snurk

Certainly gave us a chance to discover hidden talents and try new things.

[Micah]

Because she was climbing the furniture, trees, wanted a scaffold for her birthday so she could climb that...

Extra curricular sports have given that an outlet. And as fleurdelise and taxi4ballet said she found her passion and is now training every night.

I started with swimming and ballet- swimming because every child needs to, ballet for general co ordination, listening to instructions, exams, confidence etc.

That extended into gymnastics and a couple of other activities, until she decided she wanted to focus on one thing.

Oh and as an ex-swimmer I could likely have taught them myself. But she was always far more likely to take instruction from a stranger, with me she just wanted to throw herself in and swim underwater.

Also I think the parent/coach/teacher relationships are very different. I am their parent, not teacher.

[Lancelottie]

With two of mine it was to force them off their bottoms and out of the house to try things.
With the next one, it was to wear off some of his boundless energy without actually letting him kill himself.

[Fizrim]

I vowed that DD would not be out every night doing activities, time needed at home to use imagination, etc ... she was also very shy when small and didn't like large groups.

How things change. She would be out every night doing something if she could, I have to point out that if she wants to meet up with anyone after school that means she needs to leave a night free! As she was SO quiet and shy, when she first wanted to sign up for activities we were happy to let her - however, she rarely wants to drop anything but just wants to add stuff in! She has done some after-school clubs that have just been for a term or so, which is kind of self-limiting, but anything she does that is not attached to school she never wants to give up.

I do find the running around - or tbh, the waiting around - a bit tedious at times, but I can see how much she enjoys them and we can see that she is much more confident and capable of holding her own. Her imagination still runs riot too!

[sweetmuffins]

That's great Fizrim. Seems your DD has come along in leaps and bounds by your efforts in introducing and taking her to all these various activities. Well done to you!

[TheRealMaryMillington]

To stop him sitting on his arse watching youtube videos.

[prepperpig]

I disagree with the poster who said children won't learn to swim well through swimming lessons alone. That's simply not true. Mine both swim very well and we never take them swimming unless we're on holiday.

Mine swim every week, have a piano lesson and DS1 does drama (although we're stopping at the end of this term). We've cut everything else out since I'm a firm believer in down time where they can just "be". School is intensive enough.

We do very little compared to most of the children at the DS's school. Interestingly, rather than doing things that are different to the activities they do at school, most do "extra" of the stuff they do at school to get an advantage. Rugby, cricket, football are all taught at school (they have sport every day) and these children also have out of school lessons to ensure they are picked for the school teams.

[ChunkyPickle]

DS1 is still reception, but I realised last term he had something on every day after school but one - just little things - lego club, swimming lessons, multi-sports club, but each is something he's asked to do, and he enjoys. If he wanted to stop then he could.

I think like any kid, he just likes being out playing with his friends, and by doing that at a club they have the space and equipment to do it.

[Yokohamajojo]

Because they want to, at the moment we have Swimming, Football and Judo ! want to do beavers too but not enough time at the moment. They go to a small one form entry school and the outside activities especially for my oldest who is quiet and shy has really improved his confidence. So the social aspect is important for us! He's found lots of really good friends. To begin with the younger one only started the same activities because he was always there to watch but no force and he actively asked if he could join too.

[lastqueenofscotland]

Have you ever met an 18/19 year old with no real interest beyond telly and no real skill beyond managing to turn up to school. I've met a couple and that is reason enough!!