Don't regret: tennis. Maybe if my daughter was a really competitive player aiming for D1 or something I'd think differently, but she and we like that she can choose which tournaments to go to, how many lessons she wants to take, etc. Plus, it's a lifelong sport!

Club volleyball was a racket. So freakin' expensive, competitive, and we found it to be kind of toxic. Not sure if it was just our club or that is an overall volleyball thing. Plus, my daughter is 5'8" and by high school she was in that weird middle place where she was too short to be a hitter but didn't have enough defense experience to compete with the "smaller" girls who had been playing libero/DS their entire volleyball careers. At least, volleyball is a sport they can play forever. She does intramurals at college and loves it.

Anonymous wrote:I have multiple kids HS and college aged. Here is my list of what I do not regret and what I regretted.

Do not regret: hip hop competition dance, travel soccer, math competitions/classes, robotics competitions/classes, rock climbing, swim

Regret: theater, chess club/competitions, martial arts

Why do you regret chess and martial arts?

baseball. My son likes it but doesn't practice outside of scheduled practices. he is on a rec team and games are long and boring and kids don't get exercise, also games are at different times so hard for family to have a consistent schedule.

Activity I most don't regret (so far) is music. Kids can practice On.Their.Own. in their room without me having to drive them anywhere!!!!! I take them to orchestra rehearsal once a week and private lessons once a week - much less work than baseball and they are getting more out of it (of course for a kid who is good at baseball and works hard at it, I'm sure situation would be different).

Anonymous wrote:I have multiple kids HS and college aged. Here is my list of what I do not regret and what I regretted.

Do not regret: hip hop competition dance, travel soccer, math competitions/classes, robotics competitions/classes, rock climbing, swim

Regret: theater, chess club/competitions, martial arts

Why theater?

15 mile hiking trips, 30 mile bike trips, caving, rock climbing, white water rafting, leadership skills and summer camps throughout the country. Scouts has been a waste of time. My kids were able to play competitive sports year round too.

Anonymous wrote:Girl and Boy Scout. All of it. What a waste of time.

It REALLY depends on the troop. My son is in a troop in Arlington that is amazing. The older kids learn leadership by teaching the younger scouts, and they all learn all sorts of life skills. It is rigorous (not all troops are) and the kids that work their way up the ranks are really impressive, well-rounded, and well-mannered people. It's been the best thing for our DS, hands down.

Anonymous wrote:
You can do dance lessons at the neighborhood studio down the street, and be active, learn some grace and musicality, and have fun with neighborhood friends. You can play rec soccer from age 3 to high school. You can take gymnastics classes and never go to a competition.

I consider this a bigger waste than the more competitive and expensive activities. If you’re going to have your kid downs so much time doing something at least let them learn what excellence is and what it takes to become good at something instead of spending a lot of time on something mediocre or low quality. What a waste of time.

And this sums up the mentality in this area. It is a "waste of time" for a child to simply learn a skill and enjoy doing it? It isn't worth doing unless they can learn to beat other people at it? Seriously, do you even hear yourself?

I have multiple kids HS and college aged. Here is my list of what I do not regret and what I regretted.

Do not regret: hip hop competition dance, travel soccer, math competitions/classes, robotics competitions/classes, rock climbing, swim

Regret: theater, chess club/competitions, martial arts

Anonymous wrote:So far no one has mentioned they regretted having their kids in club swimming..I have a 9 year old in club swimming so good to hear! Although the time commitment gets pretty brutal by the teen years, no one regrets it?

I second the other posters comments in so far as club swimming is what you make it. You can join a low key club and swim 2-3 times a week and only do a meet here and there, or you can increase the practice time and intensity and swim more meets. The swimmer (and their parents) have the ability to choose what works best for them because there are so many different club options in the DMV. The other thing that sets swimming apart is that it’s a timed individual sport. The clock doesn’t lie, everyone knows who the fastest kids are. You don’t get selected for the cut time meets because your dad coaches or whatever, you earn it through the times you have in each event. Every swimmer participates in the meets they attend too, you don’t spend a weekend in Timbucktu only to have your kid never see the field or the court. If your kid doesn’t qualify for a big travel meet, you don’t have to spend the money and time on it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:gymnastics

Care to elaborate on the reasons why? Too much time and money?

I did competitive gymnastics for only a few years and it ruined my life.

And I did competitive gymnastics for several years, and not only did it not ruin my life (or my physical health), but I'm 50 and I still do gymnastics. My parents might regret me doing gymnastics because it did suck up a lot of their time, but I sure don't regret doing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far no one has mentioned they regretted having their kids in club swimming..I have a 9 year old in club swimming so good to hear! Although the time commitment gets pretty brutal by the teen years, no one regrets it?

It's just that the serious swim parents are too sleep deprived to check DCUM.

This a highly underrated and hilarious comment. Well done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girl and Boy Scout. All of it. What a waste of time.

Do not agree with this one. Girl Scouts (what I am familiar with, i have girls) is really affordable (And GSUSA gives schloarships for books, uniforms, very easy process for that)
If you get involved in the camping it's fun, and the girl scout camps (overnight and day camps) are a bargain for some fill-in weeks for the summer. Even the troop camping at the local camps during the school year for the weekend was a blast. But you need to have a GS camp certified adult, which means one mom needs to give up her weekend and go camping with a bunch of other moms, and that was no fun. It's all done by middle school too (mostly). A good activity, esp for the non-athletic girls.

Yup. Girl Scouts has been fantastic for my 5th grader. She's not athletic and had really found a great group of girls in her troop. It's also by far the easiest and most flexible extracurricular any of my kids do. If she misses a meeting, literally no one cares. She's currently working on her bronze award with 3 other girls in her troop, and it's been fantastic to see her independence develop. Most of the girls in the troop aren't doing it, and that's fine too. Starting next year she's excited to apply for the Destinations programs across the country, and eventually around the world.
I can totally see how Scouting wouldn't be a fun activity for some kids, but I have a hard time understanding how someone could really regret it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girl and Boy Scout. All of it. What a waste of time.

Do not agree with this one. Girl Scouts (what I am familiar with, i have girls) is really affordable (And GSUSA gives schloarships for books, uniforms, very easy process for that)
If you get involved in the camping it's fun, and the girl scout camps (overnight and day camps) are a bargain for some fill-in weeks for the summer. Even the troop camping at the local camps during the school year for the weekend was a blast. But you need to have a GS camp certified adult, which means one mom needs to give up her weekend and go camping with a bunch of other moms, and that was no fun. It's all done by middle school too (mostly). A good activity, esp for the non-athletic girls.

Sounds super stupid. Just take your kid and her friends camping. Why get an ugly uniform to do it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do kids in this sport tend to try both ice and roller and then choose one? What are the differences between the two sports that make someone choose one or the other? I have only seen talented roller skaters on the streets, with amazing skills, and I didn’t realize it was an organized sport.

Street skaters do indeed have amazing skills! So do some of the weekend night skaters at the rink.

It's really rare for a 'skater' to do both ice and roller (VA native Natalie Motley is an exception)....and I think they 'pick' based on what they're first exposed to or get the opportunity to try. Ice skaters have to deal with the cold, roller skaters with the smell of stale popcorn. /s

If you want to see it done beautifully, check out Rebecca Tarlazzi (ITA) on youTube. The South Americans also have a terrific roller tradition too, especially in team/group events.

Well, I learned something new today. She is amazing and to my amateur eye, she looks like a figure skater on ice. Cool sport!