At what age do you invest in your child extracurricular activities such as traveling with team

[Anonymous]

My daughter has been invited to be on the competition team for dance. However, at the end of the year they are going to disney for a week for something called "dance the world" it is not a competition but allows them to be in the parade and some other things. It is expensive. My daughter is only 8 is this to early to spend this much money on a child or should i wait until she is older to put out such an expense for competition team or traveling with the team to Florida. What is your opinion from those who traveled or have not traveled with children for any type of sport or activity for your child.

[Anonymous]

For something like this, probably junior high. Same thoughts in any travel team or extracurricular activity. Unless they turned out to be on some truly elite level, but I don't see that happening. We don't need the stress of travel anything in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

As soon as their desire met their qualifications.

[Anonymous]

I think maybe middle to high school as well. My daughter does competition sports but we only do local competitions. If you lived in florida it would be fine maybe. I would do competition but only participate season competitions and nothing extra.

[Anonymous]

Travel to neighboring towns for soccer matches? 8
Travel to Florida for a dance contest: High school or college, when the child is old enough to work to contribute to the costs

[Anonymous]

I'm not averse to spending a ton of money on extra-curriculars, regardless of the child's age. I am about to buy a very expensive instrument for my rising first grader, because she is outgrowing her tinkly little rental.
However this situation seems a little frivolous to be spending so much money, so I would say something to the team management, OP, because they're putting the burden on the parent to refuse and be the "bad guy".

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice i to felt that this was a little to much for an 8 year old but it is my first child and would like to hear from parents in regards to this. I was unsure if this is something that happens in many sporting programs or not for young children.

[Anonymous]

Children programs make money because many parents ultimately want the best for their children. I feel wait until middle school and see if she event still wants to dance. My kids have done sports for several years and then went on to something else. I can see if your child plays and instrument and loves it but as far as sports i feel you should wait. She may get into competitive dance for a year and not even like it. I also agree to let the managers know upfront your child will not attend this year. Many programs take these opportunities for their students but ususually for the older students.

[Anonymous]

We travel with our DS all over the country for his extracurricular. Not a big deal and we have the time and can afford it. He will make the top 100 for his age in the country after playing less than a yr in a month or two. He loves it so why not?!?

We are planning to travel internationally next yr for his activity.

[Anonymous]

When it doesn't feel like spoiling. When it doesn't feel like a financial sacrifice.

[Anonymous]

Kid activities is a huge money-making business and they start as early as they can because parents drink the kool-aid.

"What if I don't let them go? Will she be competitive"

"Larla is going to travel soccer at age 8 but my daughter is better. Maybe we should too."

"If I start this now, she will have an edge."


Don't drink the kool-aid. Let them have a normal childhood.

[Anonymous]

5th grade

[Anonymous]

The Disney performance opportunity is a fun program. My sister's students did it years ago and the kids really enjoyed it. They had a travel agent coordinate it and the prices were good for Disneyworld (staying on property).

In my opinion, a performance trip like this is much more worth it than a nationals. For a national convention, you spend just as much money for a cheap plastic trophy, where at the Disney performance your kid gets a cool performance opportunity and most of the money goes towards a family vacation vs just on entry fees.

That said, how much performing will the novice petite team members do? The Disney performance (8 years ago) is around a 25 minute show put on by your studio. When my sister took her students, they just used older kids (9+), because the younger kids did not have the skills, stamina, experience or dance/performance quality to do much more than maybe five or so minutes of the show. The older kids carried the number and had the most stage time. I imagine it will be the same for your daughter, particularly since she is a novice. Think back to your recital and the big production numbers. They are exceptionally entertaining andnusually impressive. They are designed to be crowd pleasers. To do this successfully, the best dancers are usually front and center for most of the dance. The novice or less impressive dancers are in the background, like a chorus or ensemble in theater. There is nothing wrong with this type of staging; it is done that way in tyeater, ballet, dance and countless other performances all the way through the most professional productions. However, will you feel you got your money's worth if you go to Disney and your daughter has a two minute smaller group section with the other eight and under novices and the rest of the time she is either offstage or in the background behind the older, more skilled performers who are there to entertain and impress and have the skills to do so. If they are taking more than 20 dancers what I described will likely be the scenario you will get at the end.

Ask the owner if she can do the competitive team and not the summer travel (some studios make that part optional) or if she will be able to continue in the same technique classes/levels as the team without competing so her technical level can progress at the same pace. That way, if she decides to try out later, she will be well prepared.

[Anonymous]

My kids have done a lot of different activities. When they have done sports (hockey and baseball) and pushed themselves to make it to a higher (travel) level, we have supported their efforts and their gradually increasing level of commitment. I had one child who did dance, and honestly, I felt like this activity was unlike all the others in that the expectation of travel came from the very beginning. My DD was average at dance, but we were expected to travel by plane across the country to competitions and showcases. This was in her very first year. (And only year, honestly because there is no way I was comfortable spending that kind of money on an activity that she had not really worked her way up in.)

For my sports kids, we have never had to travel by plane for competition. We have gone several hours away by car for tournaments, but this is after several years of playing and working to higher levels.

If it seems crazy, it probably is.

[Anonymous]

We do travel sports, but out range is Hershey to Virginia Beach. All a drive and inexpensive hotels. Only chance we'd have for a flight would be nationals , which would be worth it. However our travel sports don't even start until u11. 8yrs old? Hell no.