6 year old won't go into activities

[Keha]

DD is recently 6. She is an active child and loves playing with cousins and going out as a family. I say this because she isn't introverted or a home body..
She seems to have a mental block about going into activities for example she did ballet and although she loved dancing at home it became so difficult to get her into the lesson we stopped. She then wanted to do gymnastics and this has gone the same way with her sitting outside the door refusing to go in. She says that she does want to do the class and she is always happy after but seems unable to cross the threshold. We've been doing gym since last summer and it feels like it's getting worse not better. DH thinks we should keep pushing/encouraging her, I think we should just stop.
Has anyone experienced similar?

I’d leave it for now. Shes 6 years old, plenty of time to do activities later on if she wants

How about if you agree to go in with her. You both watch. If she feels like it she can join in.

I would stop for now.

Try again in a few months and see if you can find an activity she can do with a friend? She might be more comfortable and confident with her buddy.

I'd leave it. It sounds like she wants to do the activity, but not a formal class which is extremely common. Let her dance at home, take her to a trampoline place or an open gym type place so she can jump about, play football in the park etc. There is no need to formalise a child's interests in this way. Try again in a year or when she shows more of an interest.

My 6 year old is exactly the same. I've stopped classes now for the moment and will try them again after the summer. They are still only young, plenty of time!

I would leave it for now, my dds were in and out of activities at that age nothing really stuck and that was fine, if your dd doesn't like something structured then just let her dance at home as a PP said. Try again when she is a bit older.

Thank you for the feedback. The post was prompted by it taking 15 mins to persuade her into gymnastics this morning. I've set watching her once she was in and she joins in, she's smiling, she's chatting and playing with the others. Id happily stop if she didn't enjoy it, but I don't want her to miss out on something she enjoys because of her challenge at getting in the door.

It's probably the transition. Two of mine struggled with them too.

We did a lot of roleplay to practice handling them (often to silly extremes to make them laugh) and it definitely helped a lot .

I would keep trying. Be patient with it if she’s clearly enjoying it whilst there. My eldest was the same, sometimes we left without ever going in. We gave up on tennis as he would actually cry about that and clearly wasn’t happy but persevered with football and now a few years later all his anxiety around going in has gone and he’s much more confident, I think if we hadn’t (gently) persevered he’d still be struggling with this. But everyone is different and you know your kid best.

My DS is 11 but has had years of struggling to get across the threshold, even of activities he loves. Took three or four attempts for most sports clubs, the hairdresser etc.

I pre-warn teachers that DS wants to attend but may not be able to go through the door this time which hugely takes the pressure off. Some teachers try and cajole him in but if that doesn't work then I'm now comfortable saying 'we'll just watch from here today and he might join in'. DS now knows I've got his back and there's no pressure from me.

Sounds like she's a bit shy. There's a big difference between play with family and going into a class. My daughter is 5. She always says she doesn't want to do her ballet class and then has a nice time when she's there. She's just a bit shy in unfamiliar situations. She's a total loudmouth most of the time. If she's happy enough in the class I'd keep trying

So is it just her going in that is the issue .
DOall the kids arrive together could she meet up with a friend in the morning and go in together
She might just be a bit shy do you build it up as it is gymnastics today and talk a lot about it she might get nervous. OR she is feeding off the attention of going in and reacting sometimes any attention even negative they react to.