Anyone else struggling with the activity juggle?

[Anonymous]

Quick question for experienced parents: My kids are doing a mix of things including piano, art classes, and a couple of different rec sports. They seem to like the variety, it’s a lot to juggle so many things. As they get older, I wonder if it’s better to focus on one thing.

Our friends have their boys in one year-round club sport. They’ve gained an entire network of friends and social events. It dominates their lives but I’ll admit I’m a bit envious of the simplicity they’ve built by doubling down on one sport.

Curious what worked for your kids: multiple activities or going all in on one?

[Anonymous]

Multiple activities for sure. They get multiple friend groups out of it, get to explore lots of interests and become well-rounded people.

[Anonymous]

My kids gradually dropped things on their own as they got older.

Doesn't solve your problem now, but at least in my experience, they got more focused on a couple of things rather than a bunch.

[Anonymous]

We encouraged multiple things when they were little so they figured out what they liked to do and what they were good at. It was hectic but we never felt like they were overloaded. Activities, sports, and classes were added and dropped over time and now that they're teenagers, 2 kids have a single sport they do year-round and the 3rd divides her time between a sport and an instrument. I think the transition started to happen around late elementary but middle school is really where the "I like it but I don't love it as much as this other thing I do" types of conversations took place.

[Anonymous]

Multiple until THEY are ready to commit.

My son joined a travel soccer club in 3rd grade. It was all year and all consuming so we dropped other activities. It was kind of nice to know we were only committed to one main thing and I didn't have to research or look up activities every 8 weeks. Definitely made friends and had social activities included.

But he didnt make the team for next year (6th grade) and I now really regret dropping other things. I wish we had waited to know if he was all in before following the crowds. He didn't love it as much as he thought and therefore didnt practice enough on his own and didnt keep up. This is a real danger at young ages. My advice is not to put all of your eggs in one basket until you are sure it is their passion.

[Anonymous]

My kids have both done one (the same) sport exclusively since March 2020 when everything but this one shut down. It's too time consuming to do other sports due to the commitment and cost required for this one. They were in K then, they're in 5th now. I can't fathom spending the time or money on art classes...? But I suppose if my kids were genuinely interested ok. They get art at school though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have both done one (the same) sport exclusively since March 2020 when everything but this one shut down. It's too time consuming to do other sports due to the commitment and cost required for this one. They were in K then, they're in 5th now. I can't fathom spending the time or money on art classes...? But I suppose if my kids were genuinely interested ok. They get art at school though.

Art skills take many hours of practice in order to develop so why can you not fathom the time or money? Art and creativity is one of the main purposes of life as a human.

[Anonymous]

If it’s too much, cut back. Art classes seems like overkill. They do art in school and they can learn a lot from YouTube. Keep piano and one rec sport. More if they are different seasons.

You don’t have to say yes to everything your kid wants to do.

[Anonymous]

We did music and one athletic activity per kid for years, with brief forays into various other things (robotics, chess, etc) that never lasted very long. The music for one kid morphed into several sub-activities a week.

[Anonymous]

We tried a bunch of things when DS was young and now as 5th grader, he likes a few sports. We do lessons but it’s laid back.

He is starting middle school in the fall and can stay after and do sports and clubs, everything. No more shuttling around. We can’t wait.

We opted out of the whole travel sport rat race and cost.

[Anonymous]

I feel like music class and art class is so expensive and it is true that they kind of do art and some music in school. DD6 wants to take art classes with her best friend, and it is $40/class for 1.5 hour, so $160/month. Is it worth it to sign up at her age? It will be school year commitment. She wants to learn piano as well, and I don't know how to start because she can't read music sheets or notes, ground zero experiences. She also wants to do dance again. We paid $1500 when she was age 4 for a year ballet commitment . She learned nothing except we got many cute photos.

[Anonymous]

Do the multiple things.
Join a country club with the money you save on travel sports and have your social life there.

[Anonymous]

We are still doing multiple things. My kids do 3 sports each and an instrument. At first I was bummed when they wanted to drop their second instrument, but then I took it as the win that it was! I think they will probably do these three sports through high school, but each kid only has one travel sport. It is too much and we are fortunate enough to have carpool, which helps a ton!

[Anonymous]

We followed the kids. We let them sign up for what they wanted. Eventually they narrowed in on a few activities. Travel sports have had all the benefits you mentioned, but I wouldn’t force my kids to double down into a world that we don’t know is right for them. When our kids did become passionate about their sports they were on the older side. However, they surpassed quickly. Attitude and passion are important assets.

[Anonymous]

What works for the family? The family as a whole. Parents need to make a living. Parents have adult responsibilities. These supersede kids activities.