Anonymous wrote:When people talk about "three nights a week" or whatever, what does that mean? After dinner?

My kids are both in afterschool/after care so at school until 5. My 4yo has never had a formal activity besides that but we just signed him up for a 45 minute soccer class on Saturdays, two blocks away. My 6yo does swim once a week as part of her afterschool. We really love having our weekends without anything structured, so the soccer thing for this winter was done with mixed feelings.

It depends on the activity, in K a lot of activities were at 5 or 5:30 so we would have a snack, do the activity, and eat dinner. As he has gotten older the activities moved to a later time, normally 6:30. We eat dinner and then head to the activity.

I think this depends if they are in full day preschool and if they nap. My 4 year old goes to 6 hours of preschool and doesn’t nap. That’s all he can handle on weekdays. We do one activity on weekends. If he was in mornings only or not every day I might sign up for more, if he was interested. Kids this age can start to express themselves- mine is actively asking to do another season of their favorite sport so we will facilitate that. If he did not care I’m not sure what we would do. I do insist on swim lessons because we spend a lot of time at the pool and like to go to the beach, YMMV.

When people talk about "three nights a week" or whatever, what does that mean? After dinner?

My kids are both in afterschool/after care so at school until 5. My 4yo has never had a formal activity besides that but we just signed him up for a 45 minute soccer class on Saturdays, two blocks away. My 6yo does swim once a week as part of her afterschool. We really love having our weekends without anything structured, so the soccer thing for this winter was done with mixed feelings.

We didn’t do anything during preschool. We started activities in K. We have an only so we have always done Scouts, a rec sport, and then anything else he wanted. Normally he had something three night a week.

We don't do much comparatively because the kids want down time at home, and they're young enough I like to spend our weekends doing family stuff, just going to the library and parks and hikes on our own. Nothing organized for preschool. One sport at a time for elementary school, although we may add in a music or art class for my 2nd grader who expressed interest in a couple options this winter.

OP what’s right gif you is what works gif your family. Doesn’t matter what everyone else does. My kid swims and does martial arts year round. Then a couple times has done seasonal stuff like soccer. She also does DI once a week but it’s only Sep-Mar. we get plenty of family time, she has down time as well. Big she’s an only so it’s easy gif me to take her places. I let her do the activities she enjoys.

We do very little because we value downtime and family time on weekdays, and time with relatives and family friends. Swimming is year-round, once per week. And then one other activity, once per week.

Mine did swimming in preschool, the once per week rec classes and it wasn’t year round. They started rec sports in elementary school.

We did one activity at a time through kindergarten, then as many as they could handle without getting over tired/frazzled. Usually one per weekend and max two nights a week. That’s still a lot for elementary aged kids after a full school day.

OP - what works for your family? Allot family-time above all else. What's left? If there's time left and you feel you need to fill that time, then if an activity fits in that time slot, fine. Don't build your family-life around it. Early swim lessons are essential and exposure to a team sport, at least once, by 5th grade in elementary school.

Depends on personalities. Some kids like a schedule, like going out all the time, or have very high energy. Some kids are much better at creating things to do at home. And sometimes you have neighborhood friends on the same schedule so there's no need for organized activities.

I scheduled my kids in a lot of things when they were very young. High energy, liked going out, no friends nearby, small messy house, etc. If you'd asked me what they did though, I would have picked the 1 thing each really liked. The other activities change by season, I have no expectation they're starting out in something at age 3, and going to become a superstar.

Anonymous wrote:Our 3 yr old goes to story time twice a week, a gymnastics class once a week, playground once or twice a day, and swim once a week.

Sick

Our 3 yr old goes to story time twice a week, a gymnastics class once a week, playground once or twice a day, and swim once a week.

We are a high activity family. But I have an only, so it's harder for him to self occupy.

I think it depends on the kid. Mine LOVES activities and socializing, so we do a ton. When he was little, we had something every night of the week.

Now that he's a bit older, we've scaled way back.

If you can afford it, if you have the time, and if your kid enjoys it, go for it!

It seems the culture in the DMV is to push organized activities at a young age. I am torn. On the one hand, I want my preschoolers to do fun things, and especially in the winter it's nice to have stuff to do. But on the other hand, aren't they just pre-schoolers? Do they need organized soccer and such? What does your 3-4 yo typically do? Not trolling or judging, honestly trying to find my own balance here.