Sanity check please

[Halfeatenchocs]

There is an activity my dc could be involved in (i know it's annoying not say what the activity is but please bare with me), which would give her an excellent education in a disciple she feels passionate about.
The activity would involve two morning practices before school of 45 min each and two afternoon practices lasting 1.3 hours each. That would be two early mornings and two afternoons which would have schedule activities.
Dc is 8. Is this ok? She has no other activities outside of school.
Thank you.

• discipline Apologies for bad typing, I hope my post makes sense.

I read this wrongly at first and thought you meant 2x 45 min and 1x 80 min DAILY (so about 3 hours per day) and was going to say that is normal for high level music/ gymnastics/ dance/ swimming. Then I realised that you mean weekly (I think)? It's fine!

Yes weekly Waffle* 4 sessions, 2x45 min and 2x90 min. 4.5-5 hours a week. Early morning sessions mean i might have to drag out younger sibling and entertain them in a park or similar for 45 minutes every now and again, when dh is working away. But i hope this wouldn't happen too often.

Ah, it's 2x 80 min! Still absolutely fine... but 4+ hours per day would have been quite a lot, wouldn't it?

Or 90 even... I clearly can't read. I'll jog on now. But five hours per week is FINE!

Waffle my op reads terribly also realised it's 1.5 hours I am tired.

Thank you very much for your input. We haven't yet pushed the dc too much but this would be an amazing opportunity, however it would require sacrifices in terms of taking her to these activities twice daily 2 a week.

I'm reassured that you think it's not too crazy a schedule.

Out of interest, can anyone whose dc are doing either gymnastics, swimming, dance or other sports 'seriously' at this age and onwards how many hours practice a week would be normal for these activities?

so 4 1/2 hours spread out over a week? that's absolutely fine!

5 hours in total 4 sessions per week 2 before school 2 after. . My most muddled post ever.

But glad to hear that that seems fine. Driving to the activity and back shouldn't take tore than 10 min each way but the early morning one starts at 7.30 am and we'll have two quite early mornings as a result. Dc knows this but I hope she won't get too grumpy about it when it becomes a regular thing.

I know a 9yo talented at dance and she does 11hrs per week. Your schedule sounds fine as long as your dc enjoys it.

I know an 8 year old dancer who does 12 hours, and an 11 year old gymnast who does 20 hours. Mine are musicians, and the eldest was doing about 10 hours age age 8. It varies from 10-20 hours now, depending what ensembles she is playing in when. Last month, she did a show which took up 33 hours on top of the normal school week.

Children at specialist music schools would do substantially more.

My daughter (10) is okay at music/dance/swimming/sport (so scrapes distinctions at dance and music grades and county times for swimming) She has no career aspirations; just having fun. Her week goes like this:

Monday - choir 30 mins/orchestra 60 mins + 1 hr games (all school) exercise 'rest day'
Tuesday - choir 30 mins/wind band 30 mins (school), swim 90 mins
Weds - games 2 hrs (school), sport 1 hour after school a few weeks of the year
Thurs - music 30 mins + 90 mins school lesson/club, 45 mins dance
Friday - cross country (school) + swimming 90 mins
Saturday - dance 90 mins + whatever galas...
Sunday - hockey 90 mins + swim 2 hours

I reckon I get about an hour of music practice out of her each week (split into tiny bits after she has sat down at home after school).

It really depends on the child and how they tackle school v clubs (getting things done vs dawdling). DD spends many an hour daydreaming, but when she needs to get things done she can be remarkably focussed.

Our biggest nightmare is too many days without much exercise!

Unless she is exhausted/ill it is rare for her to sleep beyond 6/6:30am.
OP's schedule might be tougher for an 8am wake-up child. Siblings definitely need some "me days" some how (or they shine at the same activities).

I don't think it is too much if you can cope with the early starts. it does impact the whole family when someone does an activity at unsociable times or a lot of hours so it does have to be thought about carefully but I don't think the cumulative hours is too much if the child wants to do it. I would say try it and see what happens but do say to her that if it isn't working for the whole family you might have to stop. We have had professional shows which rule our lives for 6 weeks and it nearly kills me, I hate it absolutely hate it, but it is for a set amount of time so from a family sacrifice point of view we will commit to it. I couldn't do the hours for it on an ongoing basis though. we have enough hours trailing to and from dancing and drama as it is.

Sounds fine to me. DD does almost 15hours per week on hobbies plus extras as needed.

Thank you, your feedback has put my mind at ease.

I think that’s reasonable, though obviously it’s a little different juggling a second littler one to early sessions too.

My 8YO does 9-10 hours a week dance, with 3- 4 hours conditioning a week. She then does about 9 hours music activities a week (average, each week changes) plus her daily practice on two instruments. She works hard but chooses it and refuses to drop any of it.