Reply to What extracurriculars did you prioritize when your kids were young?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As toddlers we started with Music Together because I like music. After that we mainly followed what sparked an interest...

For DS -- A bunch of parent's at DS's preschool started a t-ball team so he did that because it was just fun to be with friends. We often walked past a tae kwon do studio when he was in preschool and he begged to do that. So started that at 4. He started rec soccer in kindergarten, again mainly because it was social. He tried church children's choir and hated it so we didn't push that. Then midway through K, he wanted to quit everything except soccer (at that point it was only once a week). School was really draining and he didn't want to do anything after school except play. Fine. Kept up soccer, by 2nd grade added a "kids fitness" activity during aftercare, added Boy Scouts, started a band instrument in 4th grade. He never had a real passion for any of it, it was all about the social aspects. By HS he did minimal extracurricular activities but played guitar on his own, joined the school stage crew, ran for fitness, and had a great group of friends who also weren't that into organized activities.

For DD -- Tried dance for about 2 weeks at age 4. She hated it. She had no interest in a soccer or t-ball team only wanted to be outside, especially exploring in the woods. I started a parent-child "nature group" with weekly outings to different hiking locations, nature centers etc. She also took a lot of short-term classes at nature centers and enjoyed art classes. Joined girl scouts in kindergarten. Eventually started a sport in 4th grade and continued that until early HS. Started a band instrument in 4th grade, played through HS and will continue in college. Her favorite things are still nature and art and she'll study both in college. She actually mentioned that early "nature group" in one of her college essays.

I think it's good to try a variety in early childhood to see what, if anything, sparks an interest. But also focus more on your kid vs. what everyone else typically does. I definitely felt out of step with the other preschool parents when we didn't make DD join the soccer team or stick it out with dance but noticing what she loved and reinforcing that was the right thing to do.[/quote]

+1 all of this

I think for preschoolers especially it is not so much what activity it is but how it is taught and whether your child likes it. My 4 yo loves her soccer class but it is a small class and the coach is really good at getting the kids engaged in fun games. Have heard of some soccer classes for little kids that are really disorganized with too many kids. Also with gymnastics, we found a place my DD loves that is focused on little kids. She had previously tried a bigger place with lots of classes going on for different ages at the same time and it was too much for her. But my friend's kid loves the big place.

Also ages make a difference. Music Together was great when DD was 2. By the time she was 3.5 it was such a slog.[/quote]

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