Reply to Am I doing my 5yo a disservice by not having him in activities?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I realize this Q may sound troll-ish given the dcum persona of the kid with 27 activities - but it’s a real question.

My rising K son has tried soccer, an art class, baseball, and ninja over the last couple years.  He’s liked it all while doing it but when I ask him if he wants to re-enroll he says no thanks.  He prefers open afternoons to go to the playground, go on bike rides, work on puzzles, play with brothers etc.  With K starting I’m thinking about just not enrolling him in anything since it’ll be the first time he’s in full time school and really feels like so much of his time is already structured with school that after school activities would give him no time left to play.

But I worry I’m doing him a disservice for 2 reasons:
1) opportunity to make friends over a shared activity and have friendships beyond school 
2) setting him up to miss out on being “good” at any sport bc he started too late. I realize that kind of sounds crazy, but is it? He had a little natural talent for soccer but if he doesn’t play again until 7 or 8 or something won’t he be basically way behind eveyone playing soccer at 7 or 8?  I see 3yos taking tennis lessons, if he started at 10 is he resigned to the bumpkin level and no chance of playing in HS?  I already feel like he’s kind of behind in sports bc there are some kids that basically start year round so young (and have a parent that plays with them a ton which we can’t) but I don’t want to entirely miss the boat and make it so he can’t play at a reasonable level something he enjoys down the road

Not looking for a broader commentary if kids sports in generally have gone horribly crazy, really just want to make sure that he will be able to play a HS sport if he enjoys it versus being too far behind bc I started him too late[/quote]

My 2nd grader is in nothing except her dual language immersion school and the academic enrichment we provide at home, since the school doesn't have a gifted program. We go places with her so she can see the world and she has casual play dates with friends. School is already a big drain on her energy and patience. She's not really a people person, and she needs time alone in the quiet home to decompress. We don't care that all the other kids in her class are in at least three activities, we know her current limits. I think us being older parents (among the oldest if not the oldest in our child's class) we care less what other people think. [/quote]

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