Anonymous wrote:Ugh, why can't people figure out it's different for every kid? Some kids have boundless energy and are extroverts and can go from 7am to 8pm without a problem, while other kids need to "recover" from school and only want one activity at once.

There's no set answer.

This. I once knew a dad who had his 3yo in three back to back Saturday activities--when I expressed my surprise, he said his kid pretty much has boundless energy, and so the activities were good outlets for him. Each kid is different.

Ugh, why can't people figure out it's different for every kid? Some kids have boundless energy and are extroverts and can go from 7am to 8pm without a problem, while other kids need to "recover" from school and only want one activity at once.

There's no set answer.

Holy moly.
8YO: one sport at a time (usually 1 practice + 1 game or 2 swim lessons per week).
4YO: full day preK / daycare. 0-1 activities (swim lessons only, in season).

We have a low tolerance for scheduled activities and are enjoying unscheduled time before DC1 gets into more competitive / HS sports which require more of a commitnent.

My 4 yo and 1 yo are both in swimming and soccer 1 x a week.

For the 4 year old, all his school friends do soccer together and he is doing it just to hang out with them.

For the 1 year old, it's something for him to do with the nanny to get out of the house.

Swimming is because it's a life skill.

My 2 year old is in dance class 1x a week. She will probably start swim lessons 1x week in the summer.

6 year old in K, 3 year old in 3x week preschool, 10 month old.

Once a week the 6 year old has “mentoring” aka a free hour of afterschool where her 13 year old mentor plays with her at the playground.

A couple Saturdays a month I’ll take them to kids Shabbat services.

They swim with their grandparents when we visit (1x month?)

I’m not opposed to activities, but we have a low tolerance for logistics and see family/friends many weekends, so it just doesn’t work for us right now. And none of the kids are asking to do stuff. DD6 once begged for Sat ballet lessons so we signed her up, and then she wanted to drop out. That turned me off of expensive activities.

6 and 10. Mine are in aftercare and do some activities in school. One night a week, piano teacher comes to our house. Girl Scouts, every three weeks, but it’s super lame so we are planning to drop, tennis camp in the summer. We’re going to start tennis on the weekend again too. Dropped out due to expense, but starting back up. My kids are happy with this level of activities and sleeping in on wkds.

3 year old in full time preschool - gymnastics offered by the preschool. Nothing outside of school but I think I might look for a ballet or real gymnastics class.

6 year old in Kindergarten - swimming on weekends and Daisies once a month. This summer we are joining a pool so we will drop the swim class and add on another sport and/or music lesson.

3 year old in full time daycare/preschool. She took swimming lesson once a week this past fall and spring. Now she’s taking ballet lesson. I have a 10 month old baby and not sure how I can add another lesson to a very packed weekend as it is.

8 DC: One after-school enrichment class; one rec sport
11 DC: One travel sport; one no-cut school sport

5 yo takes 1 weekend ballet class. She will be in the nutcracker which will require additional sessions in the fall. She dies “drop in” open gym for gymnastics every couple of weeks. Resuming swimming lessons over summer. Sporadic art classes, too

4 and 1/2 years old. Swim once a week, Tae Kwon Do 2 times a week (just started). Soccer Sat am but only 9 games total for the spring.

5 yo. Does piano and soccer in after school. Swimming, ballet, gymnastics, another instrument, and weekend language school. I think it’s a lot, but with holiday breaks, occasionally skipping some weeks/sessions, and summers, it ends up being OK — plenty of time for play dates and decompressing at home, and most activities at this age are more like an adult let play date than a “class” (especially soccer, “ballet,” gymnastics, etc).. But I think in a couple years we will be dropping at least half.

Anonymous wrote:Age 2-Sat. language class, then added gymnastics right before 3rd bday
Age 3-gymnastics, semi-private swim lessons (we would have continued language classes but she got them in preschool)
Ages-4-7-usually gymnastics and 1-2 other activities: swim lessons, ballet, hip hop, Girl Scouts, piano

Oh, and forgot soccer age 3.

Also, we had no idea what other parents were doing; we have an only so not difficult to manage logistically. Most activities were on the weekend and close by. We just signed up for activities we thought would be good enrichment.

Age 2-Sat. language class, then added gymnastics right before 3rd bday
Age 3-gymnastics, semi-private swim lessons (we would have continued language classes but she got them in preschool)
Ages-4-7-usually gymnastics and 1-2 other activities: swim lessons, ballet, hip hop, Girl Scouts, piano