Good ages to spend money on enrichment classes

[Anonymous]

For music lessons, earliest 6. For sports, etc, I would think 7 or 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For music lessons, earliest 6. For sports, etc, I would think 7 or 8.

+1

[Anonymous]

When my daughter was really little, we did some tumbling classes just for fun, and swimming for safety/skills reasons, to get her used to the water. We also did some "little olympians" type classes that exposed little kids to various sports in a low-key way. It kept her active and busy and let her interact with other kids on weekends. (she's an only child.) Nothing too intense or expensive, though.

she also really likes hip-hop dance, so I sign her up when a class works with our schedule. That started in early elementary after we did some basic ballet/tap/jazz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s when they show an interest in something. My three YO, now four, loved the movie Leap and watched it over and over and would dance along with it. She is been taking ballet classes and loves it.

I have not doubt your kid loves her classes but OP is asking when it will be "beneficial" for her kids. I think OP wants the kids to learn longterm hard skills from these classes. So, I don't think there's anything wrong with a 3 year old taking ballet, but I doubt that it is "beneficial" in the way OP is thinking about it. For example, we took our first kid to baby swim lessons. We had fun splashing around with her and she loves the water but did it make her an amazing swimmer? No. We could have spent time with her in the pool without the classes and had fun and she would have still learned to be comfortable in the water and later to learn how to swim

Real ballet does not start until ages 7-8. Until then it is "pre-ballet", which is basically just movement classes. Great, but you can certainly do without and it's not really learning ballet technique.

Not true. My daughter goes to a real ‘school of dance’. She is 4.5 and is doing ‘real ballet’ and ‘real tap’. The 2/3 year old classes are movement and intro ballet.

[Anonymous]

I am a huge believer in the curriculum in Music Together as the songs are chosen in anything other than 4/4 time (which is all children’s songs) and the note repetition is a preliteracy skill. I also like language immersion classes at your kids ages - reading and singing in a different language.

DD loves ballet class but it’s pretty much just looking adorable and running around at four. She has learned all the French ballet terms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s when they show an interest in something. My three YO, now four, loved the movie Leap and watched it over and over and would dance along with it. She is been taking ballet classes and loves it.

I have not doubt your kid loves her classes but OP is asking when it will be "beneficial" for her kids. I think OP wants the kids to learn longterm hard skills from these classes. So, I don't think there's anything wrong with a 3 year old taking ballet, but I doubt that it is "beneficial" in the way OP is thinking about it. For example, we took our first kid to baby swim lessons. We had fun splashing around with her and she loves the water but did it make her an amazing swimmer? No. We could have spent time with her in the pool without the classes and had fun and she would have still learned to be comfortable in the water and later to learn how to swim

Real ballet does not start until ages 7-8. Until then it is "pre-ballet", which is basically just movement classes. Great, but you can certainly do without and it's not really learning ballet technique.

Agree. For ballet, wait until age 8.

Disagree. Musicality and improvisation are as important as classical (or other) technique(s) for success in classical (or other) dance. I started at 4. Ballet is also great preparetion for all kinds of sports since it builds long and lean bodies able to maintain balance in challenging positions. That said, amazing dancers have started as late as 11, but it doesn't mean the earlier exposure is useless. Kids are some of the best artists on earth.

Signed,
Professional dancer and choreographer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not rich, but we do want to spend some money on enrichment classes that are beneficial to my 2 kids (4 year old boy & 1 year old girl). I did many gym & music classes when my boy was a baby/toddler, and I find them later it is not worth it at all. And, he also did some soccer/swimming classes when he was 2/3 year old, and I don't think he learned much at all. They are all mostly for fun & cute pictures.

If I want both kids to learn swimming/karate/gymnastic/piano, basketball/soccer/baseball for my boy, and ballet for my girl. What are the good ages (that they learn something) for me to spend money on weekend/evening enrichment classes? Please share your experiences. Thank you.

NP Your son can also dance and your daughter can also play soccer/basketball/baseball.

Welcome to the 21st century!

[Anonymous]

That is a LOT of activities.

I feel like 4 is a sweet spot to start swim classes--they can follow directions and start to actually learn to paddle. This does depend on the kid though--my older one could swim competently at 5 (not gracefully or efficiently, but enough to not drown) and my younger one took til 5 to get over a fear of putting his face in the water.

[Anonymous]

My DD started Suzuki violin just before she turned 4 and, a year later, is part way into Book 1. Progress is slower when they’re young (and her teacher is particularly deliberate about technique before moving kids past the twinkle variations), but she’s absolutely learning “real” skills. She can play a few songs, “sound out” variations of tunes (basically how Suzuki is taught) and do basic note reading... all the basic skills needed to progress in violin (or other instrument) playing.

She can also swim at least a pool length and tread water for a minute (passed our club’s swim test) after about 1 year of lessons (probably became somewhat competent after about 6 months) + float front and back, glide, do various kicks, do the freestyle arms, etc. Again, not an Olympian in the making or anything, but clearly learning the actual foundational swimming skills + good from a safety perspective.

[Anonymous]

My kid has been asking for piano lessons since age two. My bil is very accomplished, and the kid is a fan. Some little ones know what they want.

[Anonymous]

There are two factors to consider about activities - physical readiness and brain development. Age 3-5 is one of the biggest brain development phases for children. Any type of multi-modal experiences (art, dance, music, puzzles, etc.) are great for exploration of interests and expanding general experiences. I think that physical and mental readiness for different activities can be thought of in ~2 yr chunks. 3-4 year olds, 5-6 year olds, and 7-8 year olds are just ready for different things at different times. If you start an activity too soon, they make not really be able to do it physically, which can lead to frustration and disinterest.

Here's a few things we experience with activities on your list:
My 3 kids were all in Montessori pre-school, and all were early readers (by age 4), built strong math foundations with the bead-chain work, and had really good fine motor skills from the various activities.

My middle kid started piano at 4 at Montessori, and at 5 we switched to group lessons. 7-yr old was interested and started then too, but only did a couple years. Middle kid stuck with it until ~11 or 12, when other activities were more interesting. Youngest started around 4, but that was too young, because their hands were just not quite big enough and wouldn't produce the music they wanted. Youngest also stuck with it until about ~11 or 12. All three can read music well, all three played recorder well and did other instruments in elementary and middle school. Instruments were stopped by high school because of other interests. In the long run, I'm very satisfied because they all have a solid foundation that they can go back to if they ever want. I'm also convinced that early learning to read music and count rhythms helped with their extensive mathematical strengths.

Everyone started swimming around 4 to 4 1/2 years old with the summer swim team on the pre-team. That's where they learned to swim and that's where they transitioned to neighborhood summer fun. Some kids need to wait until 5 or 6 to start to learn both for mental and physical readiness . Younger than 4, they aren't actually swimming - they can't actually propel themselves with their little feet and arms. At best they are learning water readiness and safety. Around 7 or 8, my kids all switched to swimming year round with different club teams. They were all at different levels of competitiveness, but really the point was having a year round activity for fitness. One chose to swim for the high school team, the other two did not. Middle kid turned that swim background into lifeguarding (another very popular summer job with our neighborhood kids) and has raked in $5k for two summers. Youngest will lifeguard also.

Everyone played soccer. When we started kids were 9, 7, and 3. 7 year olds are ready for actual soccer - they get the general rules and are ready to learn foot skills, ball handling, and rough positions. 3 year olds are not ready for soccer, but they are pretty cute to watch run around on a field with no idea of what is happening. One kid was good enough for a travel soccer team. After one season of that we said forget it. Didn't want the entire family's life to be run by tournaments all over the place all the time. We would rather have a balance of activities. Everyone played recreational soccer through high school.

Everyone played basketball for a couple of winters around ages 8-10. It was a good winter activity at our community recreation center. No one was super excited to continue, so we stopped. My middle and youngest did cross-country in middle school and high school (for a couple years). In the 5-8 age range we also tried a variety of classes/camps with all three, including Karate, dance, gymnastics, tennis, and some academic enrichment classes. In middle school, my two older kids did some acting classes and acting camps for a couple of years. Very good foundation for both for speaking and improv skills. Oldest did musicals in middle and high school. Middle does a lot of debate and other speaking clubs. All the activities were interesting, none so interesting that they wanted to continue for a long time. We did not try any sports that included a large investment in equipment.

So, my kids have good fitness through high school with some activities they can easily keep up as adults (swimming, soccer, running, basketball, tennis). They could return to music if they wanted (oldest at college is dabbling with playing guitar right now). They have a broad exposure to a variety of activities, arts, and crafts which allows them to bring skills into different tasks at school, at play, and eventually at work. Everyone is well-rounded, no one is a superstar, and it's all been a low key journey.

tl;dr
start piano around 5, rent the musical instrument in 4th grade
start swim at 5, soccer/dance/karate 7-8
do a variety of classes from 4-8 for exposure/fun

[Anonymous]

You can start with your oldest now. After 5, when they are in school (real school) there will be less time and energy, so it’s good to try stuff around 4.
Swimming and gym and dance are good at this age; swimming is for safety and I would keep at it regardless; for dance and gym you can gauge their natural ability and see if it is worth pursuing; same with music I think.
Ball games are best to start at whatever the youngest age is that they accept kids, as later it will be embarrassing for them to join their more accomplished peers (less so for soccer, more so for baseball and basketball).
I think 4 is the perfect age to start trying different things and deciding how to proceed.

[Anonymous]

I think its good to expose them to a bunch of different stuff. When they can follow along independently is when it becomes beneficial imo. Having said that my 7yo DD does jiu jitsu and some boys were picking on her abd a friend and it got physical and she wss able to defend herself and pur both boys on the floor while her friend went and told a recess aide. So martial arts has proven beneficial already and shes only been doing it 9 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When they are old enough to make specific decisions based on their interests, rather than on gender norms.

This would have been below a year for my oldest, when he fell in love with construction equipment.

My daughter suffered under the domination of the patriarchy -- ie her older brother -- until she was two and a half, and old enough to declare that her army tanks would be pink, and have kitty cats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For music lessons, earliest 6. For sports, etc, I would think 7 or 8.

I waited until 7 to get my son involved in sports, and wish I had done so earlier, because he is so extremely bad at them. I think the additional time would've helped him e.g. to learn how to bounce a basketball.