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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

After school clubs

19 replies

sbwtgir22 · 16/10/2022 22:52

A few children I know (aged 7/8/9) have in excess of 10 after school activities per week. Regardless of the cost and logistics (not all parents are SAH so it must be a juggling act to get the kids everywhere!) I'm just wondering if this is normal?
My DC each do 3-4 activities a week and I thought that was ok.

I really don't want to get sucked into feeling like I should be offering my DC the opportunity to do even more (not to mention I couldn't manage facilitating many more classes, certainly not double or triple!) so I'd be grateful to know know how "normal" this number of after school activities is?

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Kite22 · 16/10/2022 23:19

Sounds excessive to me.

At that age mine swam, went to Beavers or Cubs, and, from 7 had a music lesson. So 3 each (I think at 9 the swimming started going up to 2 sessions a week)

HighlandPony · 17/10/2022 03:38

Bloody hell. Mine do four and I thought that was excessive.

jennymac31 · 17/10/2022 03:38

Both DC go to after school club Mon-Fri as me & DH work FT but DC1 also goes to a performing arts class & an Acro class. Anything more than this would be too much so I don't know how kids are managing to do in excess of 10 after school activities each week.

LondonGirl83 · 17/10/2022 06:20

It really depends on if they are part of wrap around care the school offers.

I know kids that as part of wrap around care offered at school do a club everyday (so 5) plus 3/4 proper after school activities mostly on the weekend (swimming, dance and music).

My daughter does 2 proper activities on the weekend and one after school activity but joins a few lunch time clubs offered at her private school. We initially tried to limit it but she was keen to go with her friends.

LondonGirl83 · 17/10/2022 06:22

If not part of wrap around care I can’t see how 10 would be possible. Four is more typical at the upper end from what I’ve seen. I

lovelilies · 17/10/2022 06:31

Mine do two each. Both swim, one does karate, one at rainbows. Can't afford more, plus they need downtime after school!

MrsMinted · 17/10/2022 06:41

I know a few like that, and one family whose DD and DS both doing loads whose parents work FT but flexibly. Girls who do gymnastics and/or dance often rack up a lot in my experience - there will be spinoffs like tap, modern, cheerleading, rhythmic dance and so on. Then throw in weekend stuff like drama school and family all-together activities like hiking or mountain biking, martial arts, golf sessions once a week, the obligatory swimming (bonus points if you chuck in diving lessons)... pretty soon it adds up.

You are very normal with 3 or 4 things. Although it is surprising how the numbers tot up. My dd did 3 or 4 activities on a regular basis at this age, and topped up dipping in and out of clubs seasonally at school - free running club in summer before school, free choir when the teacher felt like running it, free netball in spring.

Oddly enough I expected DD to do less at secondary but she has actually signed up for more. Her school does free lunchtime activities so she can add 5 activities without blinking.

PuttingDownRoots · 17/10/2022 06:50

Elder DD... at school she does Dance, Science and cookery. Plus Scouts.

Younger DD does choir at school, Cubs and Rugby twice a week.

RachelSq · 17/10/2022 07:43

My DS does 6, but with 3 being run by the school straight after (so very practical for working parents) and the other 3 on the weekend.

I feel it’s a lot, but DS likes it.

NoodleQueen84 · 17/10/2022 08:28

DD is 4 and does gymnastics and ballet and tap outside of school. We are looking for swimming lessons for her as well. In all honesty that is enough otherwise she is exhausted.

Original poster

sbwtgir22 · 17/10/2022 08:52

Your replies have made me feel normal! Thank you!

I believe only 2 of the 10+ activities are provided by school and the rest are outside. Yes to the PP noting how gymnastics and dance can add up. Thinking about it I guess they must do back-to-back classes within the same club.

We couldn't fit more in without them being late classes (after after school pick up) or completely taking over our weekends.

OP posts:

PuttingDownRoots · 17/10/2022 09:01

Even one hobby can take over you life. I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at the Rugby club. Then a message about a weeknight practice. She could play Tuesdays as well, but that's Cubs night (its Tag rugby, which is wider ranging than the Team rugby) A friends child is in a dance show next weekend, requiring all day rehearsals this weekend, and after school everyday next week, plus performances. Swimners never seem to rest.

Add in multiple kids....

I'm glad I stopped the swimming lessons in the summer. Just struggling to find time to take them myself now, since you can't take them in the evenings, as that's Adults Only....

Ostryga · 17/10/2022 09:03

Dd does wrap around after school club 3 days a week so I can work and then ballet on Saturday mornings. That’s enough at the moment! Those poor kids must be shattered doing so much.

plastar · 17/10/2022 13:26

DD does 4 clubs after school (3 are on her school premises but run by external providers), plus one at the weekend. That is more than enough for her but she's only 4. We wouldn't be doing as many as 4 after school clubs if most of them were outside of school - they were just fun clubs that were on offer at her prep, and easy to do as they just stay an extra hour after school, I don't have to do any ferrying around and she gets home for dinner at the normal time. One night a week is the external club which I do have to ferry her to - it's a music school with a specific teaching technique, so it's worth the extra effort, but it's much harder on her just because of travelling to a different venue and a later start/finish time. I wouldn't want to be doing an external club like that every day (especially as I'd have a baby sibling in tow).

I can see DD doing more clubs as she gets to the age of the dc in the OP, but I'd try to limit most of them to options on her school site (they have morning and lunchtime clubs too). She has ballet and gymnastics as part of her school curriculum so luckily we don't have to find time to do that in after-school clubs.

ZebraKid71 · 18/10/2022 16:34

I know a few young kids doing one every evening and some at the weekend - it really isn't for me though. My eldest is in year 1 and does gymnastics and swimming and is shattered by Friday! We go to junior parkrun as a family on Sunday and there is no way he'd cope with anything more. But other kids are different. Whatever works for your kids, I really don't think he is missing out on anything at all by not doing more.

YerAWizardHarry · 18/10/2022 16:39

Swimming and Scouting/Girl Guiding is the fine thing round here for most families and then a sport (football/rugby/dancing/gymnastics)

gogohmm · 18/10/2022 16:43

Mine did 2 after school (at school so childcare until 4.30 essentially), swimming, choir, piano and orchestra (other instrument lesson was during school time)

Dropped swimming after a year once they could swim, they didn't enjoy it. The after school activities were dropped when I changed jobs to 9.30-2.30

nodoughnuts · 18/10/2022 16:49

My older DD always did netball after school and running club before school. Out of school she does swimming and dance!

HereBeFuckery · 18/10/2022 17:01

My DD does a lot (Cubs, two school run sports clubs in place of A/S club, dance, martial arts and swimming), but she has the energy and constitution of a small rhinoceros, so she needs it to tire herself out so she can sleep.

Without them (eg summer hols), she becomes grumpy, argumentative and less happy. I ask her constantly if she wants to drop any and she says a firm no every time though!

Horses for courses. I did hardly any out of school activities and I was fine!

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