Too many Enrichment Activities?

[zumbamama]

DS brought home sign ups for after school enrichment programs...and he wants to take all of them! There is Yoga on Monday, Art on Tuesday, Soccer on Wed, Science on Thurs, and Dance on Friday. I asked him to choose 3, and he is disappointed he won't get to take the other 2. How many activities does your kindergartner participate in? Granted these are fun, creative activities, so I don't know if they would be "too much" for him if he is so eager about it. I don't want to overwhelm him but also want to encourage his interests. Right now I only have him in Spanish and he is bored with that.

[Anonymous]

I say do it - IF (like us) - you don't live in a neighborhood or area where he has options just to play with friends outside, etc. I grew up coming home from school everyday and playing with neighborhood kids til dinnertime. if you don't have something like that - or lots of siblings to play with - I would want my child to have fun stuff to do! Esp. if he is asking for it. I think organized activities imposed by parents which don't allow kids to have fun and goof-off are not a good idea - I think teams and lessons, etc should start after 3rd grade. But these activities sound like fun....

[Anonymous]

Yea, he will benefit from dance early, soccer is great exercise, yoga is wonderful...I would let him.

[Anonymous]

One. He will also benefit from running around in a safe, but unstructured environment.

[Anonymous]

How long do the activities last?

Does he have a lot of friends in the neighborhood/placed to play and explore that he'd be missing out on?

[Anonymous]

I think a lot depends upon your child. My neighborhood has a lot of kids my son's age (one of the reason we chose it) and they all come home from school and play with each other. They each might have one after-school activity per week but less is more, in my opinion. If he goes to school all day, he will need some downtime to just play with other kids. Too many structured activities cause kids to rely on adults for fun things to do. I would tell him to pick one and maybe next session, he can try something different.