How do you choose?

[Linguaphile]

I have twin 5.5 year olds. They have such a wide variety of interests and I don’t want to overschedule them, so I’m trying to pick the extracurriculars we do with them carefully. As a family we do a lot of activities together like hiking and swimming, and they are in ski school maybe two weeks/year when we ski, so they’re not without activities, but I’m wanting to give them the chance to do things we wouldn’t be able to teach them that will enrich their lives into adulthood.

We tried ballet but they didn’t like it (I think they found it quite strict, maybe my fault for making a bad choice of school?), so are moving on.

Do you make choices based on category? They will be having music lessons from next autumn and do general sport classes after school with their friends (a mix of gymnastics and team sports).

They are quite athletically inclined, so I wonder if gymnastics might be a good fit? Ice skating and tennis are something in which they’ve expressed interest, and they really love horses, so riding lessons are also on the table. Obviously we just need to pick something as we really can only afford one extra sport per child, but we’re struggling to know how to choose.

I’m leaning toward the riding lessons with maybe tennis later on? What would you do?? I suppose I’m hoping to get them into something that will be a lifelong love and not just a financial black hole that will give them a skill they will never use in adulthood. Any thoughts welcomed...

I think at this stage its really about trying a few different things and seeing what they like or dislike. Even if they try something now and don't stick with it they may well change their minds when they are older. My two did football, hockey, tennis, cricket, basketball, dance, drama, trampolining, swimming, climbing at various times during primary school. Football, hockey, drama and swimming have proved to be long term for them (teenagers now) but they have the basics of the others should they want to pick them up again. I think a lot of it is keeping your ear to the ground as to what's available locally, what their friends are doing and what their parents say too. Also trying things out as one-offs during holidays, mine have tried riding and golf that way.

So far we have tried ballet, gymnastics and taekwondo (dd age 3.5)
Ballet was a disaster; too strict and not fun enough. Gymnastics was a big hit as it was fun but only ran on days we can’t do now because of nursery but we may start again when she’s a bit older. Taekwondo is the biggest hit as it’s fun, parents can help and the teacher is funny and laid back. She still asks about dance as her best friends go but she says she likes going to tiger cubs so that’s where we are staying for now.

I would consider the following:

What activities do you have in you area that span a range of levels? If they become really passionate and good at something, it there a club that can cater for the top level? If they really like an activity but turn out to not be super-talented or don't want huge commitment is there also a more casual club?

Does it offer 'cultural capital'? ie will they be able to join a society for that activity as a fresher at university? As an adult, if they moved to a new area could they join a club to meet like-minded people? (To me, this one rules gymnastics and skating out as few adults do gym and ice rinks are rare.)

As an adult could they use it casually to keep fit for life?

Is it something you as a family can live with? You may spend a huge amount of time and resources on this thing.. do YOU like it enough??

We thought about all these things and went for swimming and sailing.

@reefedsail Those are good points and quite helpful, thanks. I agree about considering which activities will remain viable into upper school and university. I expect my initial instinct with riding and tennis may be something to pursue on thag basis. We have both readily available nearby and good avenues for going as far as they’d like in terms of improvement.

That, not thag!