Activities help for 10 year old boy - what does your son do ?

[lisalisa]

My son who's 10 suffers terribly from boredom . Not helped by the act that we are a bit girl heavy and lots of dancing and ballet going in - I'm not good at thinking of boys activities . Apart from the obvious martial arts , what other activities could he do out of school and particularly on Sunday's ? He trains with a footie team once per week but unfortunately isn't quite good enough for the team ( which is a shame as the matches would mean Sunday's sorted for him ) and has tried martial arts and doesn't like it. He's a very competent swimmer having had years of lessons and doesn't want a weekly swimming lesson anymore either.

All suggestions very welcome

[lisalisa]

Thanks everyone. We've started ds at badminton sessions now - 2 hours at local sports centre with tuition and matches and he loves it . He's also started judo once at same sports centre . After saying he didn't like martial arts he decided to try this and really likes it . He plays footie once per week after school too so that's enough for time being I think

[RudeElf]

Locally we have

Dance (hip hop/street)
Young archeoligists
Arts and crafts clubs
Scouts
Guitar/tin whistle classes
Drama group
Youth club (with loads of activities for £1)
Running club
Volunteering for conservation charity
Volunteering for viking charity
Volunteering for museum (restoring railway)
Swimming
Martial arts
Gaelic
Football
Horse riding

[MrsRedFly]

Hockey would be a good team sport (& not nearly as competitive as football)

[uhoh2016]

Is he musical in any way? What about learning the guitar? If he's out going what about Drama classes. I agree 10 is a difficult age they're at the start of the sulky teenage years. You might find once he starts high school he gets involved in different after school activities

[GasLightShining]

If he loves football I would look for a lesser team where he will get matches. Probably wrong part of the season to be looking so that may need to be put on the back burner for the time being.

Maybe something to consider when he is older but he can become a football ref at 14 (not sure how much it cost now but the course was £100 a few years ago).

[SevenSeconds]

My 10yo DS does football, cricket (indoors so carries on in winter), cubs (will move up to scouts soon), piano, tennis and swimming.

If he loves swimming but doesn't want a weekly lesson, could you find a swimming club so he could enter competitions etc?

[Mandolinoparadiso]

DS, nearly 10, does music, drama, football and Cubs during the week. But at the weekend he loves pottering around at home, drawing, doing Lego, reading, playing board games and walking the dog or going on family bike-rides.

[stugtank]

I think it's a tricky age. Becoming too old for toys but not quite old enough to organise your own life completely.

My ds is nearly 10 and does Cubs and piano lessons. I think exercise is important but he's not too keen on organised team things. So we walk or cycle or swim as a family most weekends.

He does love computer games but I try to limit these to weekends. It does force him to watch TV with his siblings or us during the week which I feel is important. Rather than screen time being a separate endeavor all the time.

I think a lot depends on their personality too. My ds is sensitive and introverted. I think group things are important but I respect his need to just read or listen to music on his own too.

Some people seem to think constant sport and weekend teams is the only way but like adults, kids this age are all different too.

Oh and some people also think being bored is akin to a terrible crime and have to be 'doing things' all the time. It's okay for kids to be bored. To think. To just be.

[MigGril]

Our local cycling club is also a triathlon club, that's who my daughter does her training with. There are stand along triathlon clubs though, there are quit a lot round hear. Then you have to enter events.

My husband is into it so he does that, but a club would help you.

[lisalisa]

Great ideas thank you all so much . Managed to find a badminton club for his age as well as cricket and a scout troup. Now need to wait for tomorrow to make those calls .

Ds would love to play footie in matches but round here all the teams seem fixed and no room for newcomers . I'll try a few other clubs just in case .

He lives cycling but I can't find any groups reasonably near us and nothing for juniors that he wouldn't have to have an adults help with . Triathlon sounds good but how are these organized and through whom ?

[TwistAndShout]

Golf?

[BackforGood]

Cubs (until 10 1/2) then Scouts

Try another football team?

Something with his swimming - a water polo team? or Triathlon?

Water based sports - kayaking, rowing, sailing, stand up paddleboarding, windsurfing, etc. etc. ?

Cricket?

[MigGril]

Oh and yes to triathlon, which my daughter also does as well. Especially if he's already a good swimmer, she does a proper training season every week with our club, takes up a good 2 hours lots of exercise.

I'm going my younger son will do a lot of these activities as he gets older. He's still a bit little yet not even old enough for beavers yet. But loves cycling.

[Micah]

Dancing and ballet?

No reason he cant do those if he wants.

Try not thinking in terms of "boys activities" and "girls activities", and think about ehat he will enjoy/be good at.

[ErgonomicallyUnsound]

Maybe try another football team where he could play matches?

My DS (12) plays for 3 teams atm. He'd play every day if he could. He also likes tennis, table tennis, cricket. He hates Scouts type things. Try stuff out, see what floats his boat.

But def shop around for another football club!

[MigGril]

I get that your looking for actives that your son will be interested in but these aren't just boys activities by the way.

Just to point out that if you have girls as well they may to enjoy cubs/scouts and cycling my daughter does these as well as dance. In fact cycling is a family support in our house. Great for all of us to enjoy together and the local club is fantastic. Look for your nearest Go-ride session they are normally very reasonably priced as they get a lot of funding for them.

[ineedaholidaynow]

You normally start scouts aged 10.5 but some groups will let them start earlier. Both Cubs and Scouts have a wide variety of badges to earn, which can involve quite a bit of work at home, which should help keep him busy. You can get more details on the UK scout website.

Some scout groups are very popular so you may need to put him on a waiting list.

[mellicauli]

triathlon
scouts
climbing
code club
skateboarding
animation classes
bushcraft

[clary]

That's a shame about the footie team - I would expect any decent team to at least give him part of a game every couple of weeks...

My DS2 is 12 but for a number of years has done Scouts, football, cricket (summer training and matches, winter indoor matches), gymnastics, athletics (track and field training and meetings in summer, indoor events and cross country in winter) plus he has piano and trumpet lessons. He also enjoys local am dram - panto etc which is usually fun.

Keeps him busy (it's the only way!).

Of those, winter footy matches, summer cricket matches and panto rehearsals are all on a Sunday. Also some of the athletics meetings. Luckily they don't tend to clash!

YY to other ideas - fencing, rugby, indoor rock climbing, yy to Parkrun, band if he plays an instrument?

[grumpysquash2]

My nearly 10 yo DS does Cubs (will move to Scouts soon), swimming and music lessons (brass instrument & brass group)
He is not affected by anything his sister chooses to do.
OP, why is your son so bored? What does he do at home?
My DS has a computer and does lots of stuff on it, including watching YouTube videos and tutorials of how to do magic tricks (big passion of his)

[lisalisa]

Thanks some great ideas here. Ds does like cycling so going to look at that if there s anything locally . I think he'd like scouts too so going to try that . He also loves badminton but round here the kids club starts at age 12

[ineedaholidaynow]

Organised activities that DS(11) does includes scouts, tennis and hockey. We also go to a family badminton session.

As a family we also go walking (have a dog so need to go for a walk everyday). As part of our walk we may do geocaching, also DS is getting into photography so often brings his camera along.

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

My 10 y/o ds goes to park run every Sunday morning (2km run, free, nation wide), scouts, book club at the local library and the local cycling club

[Robertaquimby]

You need to look and see what's on locally and give him a choice.

My ds is starting to go down to our leisure centre to play badminton and table tennis. He is also keen on the idea of parkruns although we haven't been yet. Does a lot of music and sometimes goes out cycling.

Could he just play football with some friends if he isn't good enough for a team?