7 year old extra curriculum activities

[Meagainstheothers]

Hi
Justine a rant really.

I have a 7 year old daughter. I've always encouraged her to take part in extra curricular activities as she's an only child. I used to be a Brownie helper and I really think it's great for girls. She did Rainbows and joined Browines but after being enrolled she would get really upset beforehand and it got to the point where no amount of encouraging was going to get her there. I feel like she will missue put on so much.
I took her for swimming lessons and that was although that was non negotiable as I think it's essential there was always a fuss beforehand. She now has swimming lessons at school.

She wanted to do gymnastics and she joined a recreational club at lunchtimes but then quit as she hated losing her lunchtime.

She's going to drama classes (at her request) and has really seemed to enjoy them but this Friday which is the last week before the show she didn't want to go. She gets hysterical.

She is obsessed with computers and can write games and I've not got a problem with that bit it can't be the only thing she does.

She will play games, bake and do crafts with me, she has friends and although she'said on the quieter side, she dues have friends and is doing OK at school. She now wants to do gymnastics on an evening again (recreational so no pressure to compete) but will we pay out money for her to keep fit and she then quits again.
Whar should I do?

I am not sure that is unusual at that age - they can get very overloaded very quickly but also they don't really know what an activity is until they do it. I would allow her to go back to gymnastics recreationally but make her understand that after the first x number of weeks then she is signed up for x amount of time and has to commit to it. my children dance and their dance school has a notice period. so from young they have understood that at the start of term I will ask them to make a decision whether they plan to carry on for the next two terms (have to give a full term's notice so if not handed in at the start of term then they can't stop until the end of the following one if that makes sense, or more to the point I have to pay until the end of the following term) so they make that decision and commit to it which teaches them quite a lot I think. Perhaps now she has tried different things and has decided to go back to that means she thinks that is what she would like to do.

Hi, Meagainstheothers,

I'm a mum to 7 year old only DD who does gymnastics :-)
I agree with ilfonlyknew and would sign her upto gymnastics but explain before signing up that gymnastics is paid for X weeks or that it's monthly so if you sign up then she needs to do say X months.
My DD did an after school activity autumn term and enjoyed it so we signed her up for the winter term and last night she said she's not sure she wants to do it anymore so like with other activities I said well we are paid until Easter so you have to continue until then and then we will review whether to do the last term.
She also asked to try dancing again 18 months ago and I said we had tried it several times before and said if we did she had to commit to going for at least 6 months and now she absolutely loves it.

My DD was the same at that age. I think it’s veru normal. She tried lots of different clubs/activities and quit them all, except for cubs (and that’s probably only because I was a leader there).

We always explained that she must see a club through to the end of term (or whatever the notice period was) but she was free to give up after that if she wanted.

Even at the age of 11, she had a wobble at scouts, but I insisted she saw it through to the end of term - and she’s now an Explorer Scout, and a Young Leader for my cub pack.

I think it’s fine for your daughter to try lots of things, just tell her she must commit to it for an agreed time period.