For us -our son began really enjoying and benefiting from his sports classes around age 5/Kindergarten (rec soccer, basketball, tennis). Swimming was earlier -age 3.

Daughter is still only 4.5 but I thought ballet was worth it for her beginning age 3.5 or so. Well start soccer in the spring/age 5.

I would start with life skills classes sooner, rather than later. As others have said, swimming is one of them. The intent is not to turn your kid into the next Michael Phelps, but to teach them water safety, and give them the skills to survive in water. If they take to it and end up wanting to be on a swim team, that's bonus.

For me, the only other one, is martial arts. I want my child to have the skills to react on auto pilot (so to speak) in difficult situations, because she has experience with it.

Beyond that, I think it's helpful to expose them to a bunch of stuff, when they're 4-5 years old. Dance classes, sports camps, gymnastics, cooking, that sort of thing (we use summer camps for this). Instruments, a little later (except the piano, which is easier for younger kids), maybe by 6-7.

I think you need to consider when other kids are starting a sport. While you can pick up some things at 7/8 if other kids have been doing it for 3-4 years your kid will be behind.

My daughter started ballet at 4. Now at 7 she is in an "advanced" class. A 7 year old just starting at her studio would be placed in a class with much younger kids.

We started swimming lessons very young and that was well worth it. She could fully swim when some other kids her age we afraid to put their face in the water. At 7 years old there's a clear divide between kids who have done extensive lessons and those who have not. Its the difference between free roaming of our neighborhood pool including the deep end or being tied to a parent or the shallow end.

You have to find the balance between not pushing them to hard when they are young but not letting them get behind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swimming is the only thing I would spend money on before kids are old enough to have an opinion on classes, or benefit from learning the skill. I think swimming is beneficial because it’s important to teach water comfort and water safety starting at a very young age. I do not think that very very young children will benefit from swimming lessons as a stroke skill building class though.

Agree. The AAP recommends swim lessons starting at age 1. Formal lessons decrease the risk of drowning by 88 percent.

Also agree. We were a bit lax with DS and didn’t start until 3 and had to overcome some hurdles. Having a partial pool membership this past summer helped him get more comfortable too. Now he actively looks forward to his weekly swimming lessons. Planning to be more consistent with exposing our infant to water and will probably start lessons earlier.

Otherwise the only organized activity we’ve done is one of those Coach Doug classes, which is pretty informal and a fun way to get exposed to multiple sports.

Anonymous wrote:Swimming is the only thing I would spend money on before kids are old enough to have an opinion on classes, or benefit from learning the skill. I think swimming is beneficial because it’s important to teach water comfort and water safety starting at a very young age. I do not think that very very young children will benefit from swimming lessons as a stroke skill building class though.

Agree. The AAP recommends swim lessons starting at age 1. Formal lessons decrease the risk of drowning by 88 percent.

Swimming is the only thing I would spend money on before kids are old enough to have an opinion on classes, or benefit from learning the skill. I think swimming is beneficial because it’s important to teach water comfort and water safety starting at a very young age. I do not think that very very young children will benefit from swimming lessons as a stroke skill building class though.

Anonymous wrote:When they are old enough to make specific decisions based on their interests, rather than on gender norms.

Amen sister.

I think age 6-7 at the latest. Becoming a pro isn't the goal. Broader lessons in social skills, movement, and cultural literacy of activities they will participate in later even recreationally add value and dimension to them as people. Their coordination and training now pay off later. Cross-training and athletic activity is also healthy and they will be more successful in their chosen high school and beyond activities and will help them make friends. If you begin them too late, it is difficult to catch up and they aren't readily accepted into the group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For music lessons, earliest 6. For sports, etc, I would think 7 or 8.

I waited until 7 to get my son involved in sports, and wish I had done so earlier, because he is so extremely bad at them. I think the additional time would've helped him e.g. to learn how to bounce a basketball.

I have to agree with this. By third grade, boys sports are pretty competitive. I am not saying that a super motivated kid can’t figure it out, but a kid who is only sort of interested in learning and a complete novice won’t really be able to participate.

It would be nice if kids still got together and played at each other’s houses like when we were kids, but they don’t really, do it’s of to organized sports and camps.

It’s got to be REALLY frustrating for the kids who are really excited about it though.

A sporty kid is sporty no matter when he or she gets started in a particular sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For music lessons, earliest 6. For sports, etc, I would think 7 or 8.

I waited until 7 to get my son involved in sports, and wish I had done so earlier, because he is so extremely bad at them. I think the additional time would've helped him e.g. to learn how to bounce a basketball.

I have to agree with this. By third grade, boys sports are pretty competitive. I am not saying that a super motivated kid can’t figure it out, but a kid who is only sort of interested in learning and a complete novice won’t really be able to participate.

It would be nice if kids still got together and played at each other’s houses like when we were kids, but they don’t really, do it’s of to organized sports and camps.

It’s got to be REALLY frustrating for the kids who are really excited about it though.

Anonymous wrote:I think its good to expose them to a bunch of different stuff. When they can follow along independently is when it becomes beneficial imo. Having said that my 7yo DD does jiu jitsu and some boys were picking on her abd a friend and it got physical and she wss able to defend herself and pur both boys on the floor while her friend went and told a recess aide. So martial arts has proven beneficial already and shes only been doing it 9 months.

Love this story. Go, PP's DD!