S/O Kid activities. How many?

[Deleted]

how many activities are optimal? Last year each of my DD's was in activities 3 days/week (girl guides and dance all year, and skating in the fall, skiing in the winter, soccer in the spring).

Now that I'm going back to work I've restricted them to one activity (plus skiing which is non-negotiable). They are complaining because they want to do everything.

[balletofangels]

DD is 3 and just started dance one day a week.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Lucy does two dance classes, gymnastics and cheer. Each is one day a week, most of the year.

[wanderlustmom]

We always did two--one sport and one arts or music. But it was too much once they started travel sports. So nine year old DS has soccer three nights a week and seven year old DD has swim three times a week. By the time you throw in games, tournaments and meets--it's a lot but manageable. Last year trying to add chess and Girl Scouts--too much.

[wannabe]

The bean is 6.5. During fall she's in cheer, dance, gymnastics, soccer, art, and hula. It's about an hour a day and she loves them all.

[SpartanGirl]

We try to limit the kids to 1 or 2 because more than that is nearly impossible to schedule/manage.

[themysteriouswife]

She only takes tumble during after school. It takes place at the school during daycare hours.

[cjeanette]

I think it depends on the kid. Some of my kids friends prefer little to none. My kids are in an insane amount of activities. To the point that they sometimes are going to more than one in an evening

[speckledfrog]

Right now we are doing gymnastics once a week. In the fall MH will start taking him to swimming lessons as well.

[Booze Raccoon]

Meh, I'm the SAHM of an only. I fill her days up with as much as possible. If I don't, I sit at home with her and play Barbies. Then I want to hang myself.

She was most recently in Soccer one day, gymnastics another and one day ballet. 3 days per week plus 2 days of school (this past year) made for a good week.

[nerdicorn]

I am starting P with gymnastics and swim this October. We plan on doing one "physical" activity and one artistic, then adjusting as needed once he's older.

[Deleted]

I'm not going for a number, I am going for the ones that I think will work for them. 

Girls, Preschool age--swim, dance, gymnastics.

D, elementary age--cub scouts.  

[whattheheck]

We are all much happier now that we cut back. Each kid does Scouts and horseback riding year round and rec soccer in the fall.

[HiC]

DD is 8, she's busy:
Ballet 2x/week
Jazz 1x/week
Irish step 1x/week
Gymnastics 1x/week
Paddle tennis 1x/week  (in the winter). 
She wants to join Brownies too. I'm thinking not.

[gretchenindisguise]

2 activities.

She has swim lessons (non-negotiable)

Plus one other of her choice. Right now it's gymnastics. In the past it's been soccer and ice skating. I think she'll stick with gymnastics for a bit.

I'm curious how things will go once school starts because they are all during week nights right now. That may have to change if she's too tired after school, but for now I love it because it gets some extra energy out and it keeps our weekends open.

[blanca]

Last year DD did brownies and chorus at school. They're both right at school and worked well with my schedule. This year she wants to add gymnastics in.

[eb777888]

One. For awhile we did two but one is better for him, especially with speech and full-time school in the mix, and ya know, being 5 and stuff.

[nsl]

One right now, but I suspect DS 1's school will have a Cub Scout troop next year and he'll want to do it. We also want to do swimming lessons in the fall, which would suddenly take us to three for him and swimming only for DS 2. God, I hate all the running around on weeknights.

[Captain Serious]

I think this is something that varies, based on the family's schedule, desire, and interests. I try to have each in at least one sport each semester; now that they are old enough, I insist it's a team sport so they learn how to work/play together. Then they usually ask to be signed up for an after-school club. Between that and speech/tutoring (when necessary)/homework, we are pretty tapped out.

[daisyheadmaizie]

DD is 6 and she dances. Last year she took ballet, acro, hip hop, technique, and her company class. We were at the studio three nights a week and every other Saturday plus competitions. It was a lot. We just switched studios and their requirements are different. She will be taking classes(ballet, jazz, and acro) two nights a week, and then she will have company classes either Fridays or Saturdays plus competitions.

DS is too little for activities right now. I am not looking forward to when they both have stuff going on. 

[adhdfashion]

DD1 has piano, dance and Awana. This Oct she is also taking a swimming class.
DD2 starts dance this fall.

[nannersp]

We try to do no more than 1-2 at a time. And when she's back in school, she'll do activities through her afterschool program, like theater, drill team, etc., but they don't really have big performances or anything that we have to attend.

[rootbeerfloat]

They are each in 2 activities, all on weekends. DS (7) has swimming (1x/wk) and karate (2x/wk). DD (4) has swimming (1x/wk) and dance (1x/wk).

[Shreddingbetty]

DD just turned 4 and has music lingua once a week which finished this spring (it was in the morning). That was her only activity until this spring when we added tap and rec soccer. This summer she does tennis 2 a week for 2 months and we go to the pool several times a week weather permitting (funky summer so far!). Thus fall she will do ballet and tap (back to back) and soccer. Once soccer is done she will switch to tennis again. I'm trying to keep it to 2 activities a week (I count dance as one since it is back to back). At least for now while she is this young. When she is a bit older we will see. I don't want her to have something every single day of the week. That's just too much.
We also started ski this past winter but that was a 4 weekends total all winter and not set in stone.

[lolobeth802]

During the school year my 14 yr old has youth group events 2x/week and karate 2/week. My daughters are gymnasts (4-5 hr/wk for 5yr old, 10-14 hr/wk for 7yr old), so that's all they do unless an activity is offered during the school day. (dance,yoga,art,Lego club,etc)

[candreco]

DD is five, last year (still pre-school) she had swim class and ballet. This year she'll have at Girl Scouts, probably ballet and tap, and we're debating whether we want to do swim class on top of two dance classes. It seems like a lot; she loves tap and ballet, and isn't particularly enthusiastic about swimming, but it's one of those life skill things that we do think is important.

[Deleted]

If a parent is SAH and kids are not yet school age, I think having something to do every day is good. Exposure to other kids, getting out of the house, etc.

But for everyone else, I think one activity a time is sufficient. I actually feel really strongly about this...family time is very important to me and I think the trend to structured activity all the time almost always happens at the expense of family time, family dinner, etc.

[cc]

It depends. My teenager is at a dance studio 10+ hours a week, but if we weren't part of a car pool, I would have a hard time getting here there with my work schedule.

11 y/o son is in band and that was twice a week, but since he is going into middle school and they have band as a class you can take, he won't have to go to after school practices unless they are rehearsing for a show.

I haven't signed up my three year old for anything yet, because with my work schedule, most of the things for her age start before I get off of work. We will probably sign her up for dance soon, though.

[jinkies]

My oldest is 6, and uninterested in sports. This spring he had clay class 1/week and then both kids did swimming 1/week. By the end of swim, my husband was getting cranky with the commitment.

We do a lot of family activities, have weekly neighborhood play dates, and my kids spend a lot of time at my parents farm. I prefer the flexibility of not having daily activities.

This fall, though, I may start my younger one in gymnastics. She's much more athletic and I think she would like the physical activity.

[DotAndBuzz]

N did one activity after school last year and it nearly killed me. She loved it, but adding anything onto the day after school was hard for her because she was just so tired.

I can see her stamina improving so I may let her try 3 this year. She loves ballet and wants to do modern as well. Not sure if i'm going to make her pick one, or try them both. The brownie troop at her school meets every other week, so that might work well if she's still interested in that. I'm also trying to track down a music teacher that apparently comes to your house, so if I can make that happen we may try that too. Probably will throw in swimming lessons here and there on the weekends. They are in 4 week sessions, so very short commitment, and we're usually at the pool on the weekends anyways.

Of course, all this hinges upon her being able to keep it together after school and still *wanting* to do all this stuff she's mentioned. Otherwise, it's not worth the hassle.