After school activities 8 year old

[BB8sm8]

Please go gently on me as I’m a bit anxious 😥 my 8 year old DD is generally a happy content little girl who gets on with her peers. She has tried most clubs over the years (ballet, rainbows then brownies, gymnastics, dance). As she’s gotten older she has asked to stop all her clubs, saying she just doesn’t enjoy them, whereas most of her friends are doing something almost every night of the week. The only one she always wants to go to is art club, piano of a lunchtime at school & she also does swimming at the weekends (which she doesn’t enjoy!). Alongside this, she also struggles to settle to sleep at night & I'm wondering if she’s simply not tired enough, if she should be doing more after school. Normally she has a snack, does any homework then has TV time before bed & story. I’m a real introvert & have to force myself to do things, so I worry that I should be pushing her to do more outside of home as my comfort zone is in the house. Yet she’s very young in the year & is struggling to keep up with her peers academically (she has a tutor once a wee) so I have tended to think she needs home time to zone out & chill out in whatever way she finds comfortable. Often she’ll simply play with her younger sister for hours after school. Should I be pushing her to do more activities?

I would let your dd decide.

Although if you worry that she isn’t doing enough and not tired enough could you take her out to play in the park after school. Or just playing in the garden. We got a trampoline otherwise mine would have been wired.

I have found drama was great to gain confidence and definitely be more outgoing.

Mine did a lot of ECAs and in the beginning we did do a lot of test days to find the right teacher, club etc

3 extra curricular activities for an 8yo sounds fine. I definitely don’t think it’s a good idea to be doing something every night of the week. Let her go at her own pace.

I think kids are over-scheduled. Whatever happened to just having some quiet, alone time after spending all day with 20+ other children and a few demanding adults? Let her be.

She does art club, piano and swimming. That's plenty for an 8 year old! If she's had a go at all of those other things and decided that they're not for her then I think it's fine to have most evenings at home with her sister. I have a 6 year old and lots of friends with 2-7 year olds and some of them do absolutely loads- they just look shattered!