Reply to Extra curricular that aren’t sports

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, many great ideas above. I notice you mentioned "any time I ask him what he'd like to do...." Instead, help him do some research. Asking a kid "what do you want" can often result in "I dunno" because they (a) just have no idea what is actually out there that could interest them if they tried it and (b) they have zero idea how to start looking, and it's too overwhelming to just say, "Well, go find a class or club yourself."

So don't choose FOR him but do talk to him about what he likes. Does he like building stuff online like Minecraft? Maybe look for Lego robotics clubs (at school and outside school-they exist). Is he fairly outgoing? Drama classes and groups are all over the place at local theaters and there are tons of kids' and teens' drama classes (not just one-time plays, ongoing classes, improv, etc.) all over the DMV if you look. Is he not that outgoing? Like someone else posted, theater tech/crew can be a lot of fun. Or look at sports that are NOT team sports which dominate around here. Think archery and fencing as two especially cool and very fun sports, and they can be as competitive (or not competitive) as he wants them to be; he can commit to competition or just take lessons, maybe with a friend, and have fun.

Look at your local city or county recreation department and/or community centers for classes and one-time events. Libraries host book clubs and "maker fairs" and Lego and card game events for tweens--check not just your local library but the events in all the area libraries.

Through school there may be other extracurriculars that could interest him if he's got some academic interests--Science Olympiad team, Math Counts team (or other science or math events), robotics club, chess club, some schools even have bridge clubs!, Scholastic or PTA Reflections writing/visual art/filmmaking contests through school, maybe there is a school TV "station" where he could get involved (they do morning news broadcasts to the school)....

Do this alongside him and say that you're going to support anything he wants to try. Let him percolate some ideas. Do not say, "This is to get you up and out the door" or he'll get turned off and be resistant.

Some parents require a kid to have at least one extracurricular (sometimes just a sport, but I'm NOT a fan of not insisting on a sport if a kid is not into sports). I don't require it but might, if my kid had nothing going on but homework and hanging out, I think. [/quote]

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