Clubs & activities

[Mangomumma]

DD1 starts reception in September. So many of my mum friends are booking lots of clubs / activities after school and at weekends for their kids.

Am I crazy to not be doing this?

Some of them seem to have football, tennis, swimming, dance, ice skating on almost everyday. At the moment we just have swimming.

Even if I wanted to it would cost a small fortune to do everything! And I have no idea how tired DD will be after a full day at school. DD2 would end up being dragged around all the time & it would mean we have very little time at the weekend as a family.

But on the other hand I feel bad for not giving her the opportunity to try out & enjoy these things.

(Obviously nothing is confirmed to be actually going ahead yet with covid)

It's entirely your choice, many parents will have a fairly good idea that their children will not be tired after school, lots aren't, the "kids are shattered" is just a trope, it is not universally true at all.

I don't really understand your "very little time at the weekend" - even if the kids are doing 3 hours of activities, that's at least 10 hours a day of family time. I actually find a long activity is useful at the weekend, it's gives all the adults a break to do other things (exercise/shopping/mumsnet), but obviously it depends how important being all together in the family is to you.

You don't have to, but it's not wrong to, it's entirely up to you.

I'm sure you can bide your time and see what really interests her. Then it will be worth the effort.

A lot of parents, during lockdown, were posting that they were really appreciating not having to be constantly running between clubs; that their children were quite happy at home and actually probably didn't get that much out of some of the clubs they went to, and they were enjoying the extra family time.

Be interesting to see if this translates to a general movement of children doing fewer clubs. Clearly not by OP's experience

Also I think this is very much a case of "keeping up with the Jones" and is area dependent. No one round here put their Reception DC into more than 1 club+ swimming in a week.

Were they tired after preschool.
Do they get grumpy or naughty.
Do they already know phonics and can write
Are they oldest or youngest

My girls weren't totally wiped out from school and wanted to do lots of things. Dd2 in particular needed things to do or she got very fractious.
Ds otoh didn't want to do anything afterschool except chill. he wasn't really tired, just had had enough of people. Now he does more than they do.

I'm one of the parent who signed up to the activity everyday when dc was in reception. I knew he was hyper. He was never tired. It did good for good night's sleep.

There is absolutely no rush to sign her up to lots of clubs. Both my DCs were absolutely wiped out after school at that age. DD did Saturday morning ballet but that was it and even that was a push. It really depends on your child. Some kids will thrive on lots of activities and others will find it too much. It's really not a race and they won't miss out by not doing everything going right now. Try not to feel peer pressure from other mums. Do what's right for your family. x

It depends on the child. Mine is starting in September but already does quite a few activities which will continue. We’d never be able to do every day because of work. She would see it as a punishment to not do them but she has always been one to get involved. Lockdown was painful for her. There will be other children that are much happier pottering around. If you don’t think yours would enjoy or activities don’t work for you then don’t go down that route.

My ds was also not tired after a day of school so we had things to do every day but lockdown has made us change direction a bit.
I’ve very much enjoyed not pelting across town to gymnastics, so thats been cancelled. Dancing had probably gone to the wall too, I never really took to the teacher. I’ll keep piano and probably football. He’s going to do the Lawn Tennis Association 6 lessons for £25 in September because I thinks its really good value.

None of the extra-curricular classes happened at the weekend as thats family time.

As Primary School teacher, I have taught some children who have found the school day very tiring, as they are busy with physically demanding after school activities every night. Of course this is not every child, and every parent knows their own child best.

We haven't booked anything for DD who is starting reception soon. We'll see how she gets on.

Do what suits you. Many of ds2's friends were signed up to activities every night and thus weren't available to come for a play date. This I struggled to grasp. But it's their choice. Both my ds's only did 2 activities a week.