MOOK- how busy are your kids?

[AHappierHour]

I like to keep my kids active and I have a hard time saying no to things. Especially when it come to DD1. The busier she is the better she behaves (she has ADD).

My girls 8 and 7 are in competition cheer now 2days a week and tumbling 1 day a week.

This summer I have them going to a tutor once a week for an hour.

DD1 also has softball lessons once a week. Now DD1 wants to try to learn how to pitch and her coach suggested letting her try but to add one more day. I feel bad not letting her try it but I really don't want to do another "thing". But then if it makes her happy, why not?

I have other mom friends that think I'm crazy to be so scheduled during the summer and not have many "free days" but they don't get when we are home DD1 is bouncing off the walls. She needs activities.

[Leeham Rimes]

If it works for your kids and your family, who cares what other people think?

we're not that busy but it's mostly bc everything is about $100 a month so we can only afford one sport per kid. We would do more if $ wasn't a factor.

[scorpio72]

I have 3 kids, 14, 12 and 8. The oldest is insanely busy by her own choosing. She plays travel softball (2 practices a week and weekend tournaments) and swims 3 times a week in addition to her summer swim team. She has chosen all of the activities. We did not start out this busy but she wanted to add on days to her initial practices and we let her. I honestly wish she wouldn't do so much b/c I'm tired of driving her around all the time.

By contrast, my 12 year old does one hour of dance a week and that's it. My 8 year old is in between. He only swims right now but it's every day if we choose to go to every practice (we don't).

I would let her try it out and see if she likes it, but it might be a lot for such a young kid. My oldest didn't start being busy until middle school (12ish).

[readyin07]

Not busy during the summer. The activities my boys are in aren't really active during the summer. Camps are the big business here. I wish it wasn't the case Bc I would love to put them in tennis right now just one practice a week but nothing is offered besides camp and private lessons. Same with golf.

I like them to be busy too but we are limited by cost and logistics. During the school year they both play baseball - one practice and two games a week. But their age divisions are different so we can be at the ball fields nightly. I could probably add an afternoon activity for them like piano or tennis but I do think they need a little downtime and time to do their work.

[hopecounts]

If it works for your family (financially and dynamics wise) go with it.
Families are not cookie cutter and what works for X family may not work for Y family and as long as we are talking preferences and not safety it's no ones business.

If your DD wants to do this there are a lot worse things then supporting her and letting her work on a new skill.

[DotAndBuzz]

If they're happy, and it's financially doable, let it ride.

right now my oldest (9) is in softball, golf camp, and I make her do "school" for one hour a day. Softball games are 2 hours each, 2x/week, and she has practice 1x/wk for 1.5 hours. Golf camp is just during the morning, and I usually take her and her sister over to the neighborhood tennis court after that for a bit. She's about to start up piano again for 1x/wk (will be expected to practice 2.5 hours a week).

Little Sister (6) is also doing "school," golf and tennis, and will start piano. She's along for the ride otherwise, but is used to it (poor 2nd kid!) so no complaints yet.

But I also try to schedule camps/sports with their school friends, so they're still seeing them, even though they're "busy." It's not travel/high competition level, so for now it works, and keeps everyone happy. I've tried both SUPER chill summers, and scheduled summers, and for us, scheduled time works better than waking up every day with nothing we have to do. I pull back on activities during the school year, but I let them go kind of nuts with them during the summer.

[erbear]

Not at all. I refuse to overschedule mine (6 and 8 - one with ADHD). They do one activity at a time. We spend a lot of time exploring around our house, in the city, playing in the backyard. I think the unstructured time is actually good for my ADHD kid - she's much more relaxed in summer without the schedule of school. I think the opposite can be true but it's not for my kid. 

[goldengirlz]

I work full time, so DD is in either school or camp from 8-6.

She does one activity on the weekends. She would probably be fine doing one more but I don't like being so scheduled on the weekends.

Do whatever works for your family and who cares what other people think.

[bronxgirl]

DD is in a lot of activities during the school year (karate, tap, ballet, soccer, Girl Scouts , Hebrew School) but over the summer just has camp. Her camp is from 9-4 and that will keep her busy for most of the day.

[nsl]

My oldest would self-destruct if we scheduled him for more than one activity per week. He's a homebody and does best emotionally when he has plenty of unstructured time. My youngest, however, needs to be kept physically busy, which makes for some interesting scheduling as we try to balance his needs with his brother's.

Do what works best for you, your family as a whole, and your kids as individuals. There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to this sort of thing.

[akayf]

My 9 year old has ADHD, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, and language based learning difficulties. He is not eligible for ESY. We will be doing karate 3x a week(the dojo has am classes 2 days a week in the summer). He also has reading and math tutoring(1x a week each for an hour). I've also signed him and my younger son (6)up for bible school. They've gone there before and love it. The younger one does karate too.

My older son needs structure. We see his anxiety start to build when it's lacking.

[imojoebunny]

Kids are different and need different levels of activity and social activity needs. I have one (8) who is content to never leave the house, other than to kayak the river at our cabin and ride his bike, he is content to see a friend once a week or less. During school, I have one (11) who has a tutor, goes to OT, takes drama 2X a week, and also other days when productions are looming, and also needs some sort of social interaction every day, to not drive me crazy. I try to balance both kids in summer, but it can be hard, since DD does not have friends close by who are available. At her age, a lot of the kids are gone much of the summer, to overnight/day camp, to grandma, to divorced other parent's house, and most parent's here work, so my options are pretty much the pool, or taking another child for the entire work day, if we don't have a camp or travel. Just don't forget, you need to make you happy, too, and to enter that into the equation, too.

[iheartbanjos]

We're pretty busy, but mostly because H and I both work FT. DD1 is in a camp every week, and gets an hour of tutoring at least 2x week. DD2 goes to daycare, gets speech 1x week and has gymnastics 1x week. She was doing soccer too, but we decided to take off for the summer, and both girls will play in the fall. Both girls have swimming lessons 2x week, but we go to the pool as a family after work almost everyday as well. DD1 will start piano and scouts in the fall, and will also do at least 1 after school enrichment activity a week. DD1 does well with the structure, and DD2 is showing early signs of being an athlete, so we are basically following their leads on activities.

[sugarbear]

I get serious summer-time anxiety and tend to over-plan. That said, we typically have a structure to our days, depending on whether or not they are in camp. Other than DS1's wrestling class on Saturdays, the kids don't have any lessons or classes during the summer. I should have signed them up for swim lessons, but I forgot.

Weeks with camps look like this:
wake up, free time, breakfast
camp 9-noon
home or picnic lunch
playdate / cousins / fishing or hiking with dad
gym with mom
dinner

No camp weeks look the same, but I'll plan either a play date or an activity (speaking of which, jenny1980  and WOT?*, have you seen this place?) for the afternoon. We have memberships to the zoo, which is right down the street, and the Children's museum which is near my dad's factory so we can have lunch with him which always takes forever.

[Deleted]

This summer we've got 8 weeks of mother/son klown kollege.

[eclaires]

It varies because I have two on opposite ends of the spectrum. My oldest is the homebody that has to be forced into doing activities and my youngest is the one who'd like to sign up for everything. Up until this summer we did a lot less because the younger one wasn't old enough for quite a bit. This year they both have done two camps so far and we spend a lot of time at our pool. We've also been to the beach. July has a little less planned but their regular activities mostly follow the school schedule so a lot starts back up in August. My daughter is probably going to do another dance camp at the end of July but otherwise I think it will probably be more relaxed than June.

During the school year we tend towards one extra activity at a time - my daughter does a lot of dance year round but she's allowed to pick one other thing (softball was this spring and will again be this fall). My son rarely wants to do something on top of his regular after school activity (which is usually one day a week right after school vs his sister's five hours of dance) but we generally still make him do something sport related. He's not into any one sport specifically but he plays basketball, flag football, and is going to do some tennis and swimming this year. Maybe lacrosse this fall. We encourage him to do stuff like that because he's someone who hates trying anything new and we think it's good for him to be gently pushed out of his comfort zone.

[Dumbledork]

During the school year she has an afterschool activity every day. She needs Saturday to be a homebody, but usually by dinner that night she's begging to go out and be social again.

She's an only though. I think if she had a sibling or nearby neighbor kid to play with, she'd be more likely to be happy to stay home.

During the summer she's in a full day camp each week, but no evening activities other than one hour of swim. Camp takes more out of her physically and socially than school does, so she doesn't end up needing the extra activity. Though if it's a half day camp, she'll rest for an hour and then want to go out again.

DH and I are homebodies so it can be challenging, but it works for us.

I will add that none of her activities are competitive and I think that helps keep her engaged, happy and fairly chill.

[abs]

We usually use the summer to try a new activity. This year it's hip hop. Otherwise we are doing swim lessons twice a week and probably a soccer class.

During the school year we just do soccer. If DD wanted to add another activity I'd let her but soccer is her favorite. She would play every day if she could. She is enjoying swimming right now so she may stick with that past the summer, too,

[mmmomof2]

We do a lot of activities, but I think it's more for me.

Right now we're doing two weeks of intensive swim lessons plus keeping for the summer gymnastics and ice skating. We have also scheduled three weeks of camps. During the school year besides gymnastics and ice skating we have Girl Scouts, a choir group, plus random activities like the school play that take a lot of time. Plus younger DD is will do AYSO in the fall and softball in the spring. Older DD has already determined those are not for her.

[cabbagecabbage]

We're poor and I'm lazy. I honestly don't care what anyone else does unless they're dragging a miserable kid around.

I mean I go to bed at 8 and love nothing more than gardening, watch crime dramas, and playing with my kids. I go out without kids maybe one night every two months. I don't push that schedule in anyone else and say it's the best because I'm happy.

Anyway, my big kid does dance one night a week in the school year. This summer we skipped camp. We're doing morning swim lessons daily, once a week library class, and lots of play dates.

[CrazyLucky]

DS is 7. He is in scouts, which is mostly during the school year; piano, which is 1x/week all year long; and soccer and baseball, which is 1-3x/week in the fall and spring.
DD is just in soccer and baseball. She's 4. When she wants to, she can sign up for something else. So far, she hasn't expressed interest.
That's really all I can handle. Even in first grade, DS would be up late because when he has another activity, there is no way to get his homework done by bedtime. Him being extremely busy is a detriment to his behavior because he gets tired and mean, so your situation is different. It has nothing to do with cost though. I just think all of us (in my family) need some down time.

[Queen Mamadala]

I'm lazy and don't do super busy, and neither do they. My older two, going into 7th and 5th grade, are introverted homebodies that spend a lot of their time doing bookish things. They read a lot during the day, and dd1 takes courses on edx and watches videos on Khan Academy's site. They also spend a lot of time writing, drawing, watching anime and movies, and just hanging out. They're very chill. They're also like me. I try to avoid going out in 105+ degree heat.

They do train BJJ on a semi-regular basis. They used to go twice a week in the evening. They'll start day classes next week.

[lolalolalola]

We both work so they are in different camps for most of the summer. Nothing outside of those though.

[textbookcase]

They keep pretty busy. During the school year they all play soccer in the fall. The older two are heavily involved in 4-H, especially C, who is 13 and involved in a lot of leadership activities through 4-H. 4-H activities keep them busy several days a week, particularly from Sept - March and then it dies down a bit. Late winter - summer they play in a recreational volleyball league. After this summer, my youngest (5) will also be in 4-H. They are also involved in the youth program at church, which is at least twice a week. C also babysits quite a bit and works one morning a week at my office. They take weekly music lessons.

In the summer they are in a few different day camps. C is a "staff member/counselor" at a 4-H day camp. They help out at VBS at our church. They all do summer reading programs/activities at the library. The older two go to separate sleep-away camps for a week each. I'm sure I'm forgetting things but we try to do quite a few extracurricular activities. They're homeschooled and I don't want them to just be cooped up at home all the time.

[WOT?*]

I haven't been yet sugarbear but several GS troops have inquired and it's on my to-do, especially since the rope climb at Great Wolf was closed when we were there. There is also a smaller one at I think the Northshore Y.

The girls will be doing summer school for a few weeks. Cady wants to do hip hop and we are putting Kayleigh back into riding lessons. I need to find a bass (orchestra) instructor since K is switching to bass from viola and Cady also wants to learn bass.

I am retiring from GS so am not doing our usual day camp. That is such a relief honestly. Kayleigh does a week of horse camp every year.

Right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Carlsbad; we were at Disneyland yesterday and my niece's wedding last weekend so this is taking a week on our schedule. I also plan to fly to Florida for my son's gender reveal in July and my mom is flying in on July or early August and my MIL and her twin sister will be here in August so well have cannot time and events to fill time as well.

[definitelyO]

do what works for you and your kids!

DS is 11 and during the school year he does 1 fall sport on the weekend, winter we ski, 1 spring sport on the weekend (so far all sports have not had weeknight practices). He climbs 2 hours one night a week and has tutoring for 1 hour 1 night a week. We do not put him a lot as I like having the family time and he loves having some down time.

summers - DH and I work FT - so he is in full day camps most of the summer with no other activities - leaving week nights and weekends free.

[CheeringCharm]

Ridicously so. They're each in three things. We're out ferrying them around every week night and twice in Saturday's (I don't mind the week night stuff but the Saturdays kill me). Sometimes there is overlap so DH and I have to divide and conquer. We have a hard time saying no too obviously.

DS1: tennis (2x a week), soccer (2x a week), swimming
DS2: tennis (2x), baseball (3x), swimming
DD: gymnastics, figure skating, horseback riding

They're also doing a bunch of different camps this summer (tennis, swimming, soccer, science), some full day some half day.

[revolution]

My oldest is also in competitive cheer. She has 2 teams practices a week, a tumbling class, and a private lesson when we can do it.

She just got done with Rec softball on top of that and DH was the coach .

And she's been out of school for a month and is at a camp all day everyday so we can work.

She loves all of it. However, we have to force downtime sometimes. Like last night we declined plans so we could get take out and all just sit and veg out.

My youngest is only 5 and just did tball.

I imagine we will just get busier as they get older. Well not sure how much busier dd can get. But we have to throw in ds doing stuff. He wants to wrestle.

So, if it works for you guys then keep doing what you are doing.

[eddy]

My kids are in summer camp full time so that is their activity. We are just finishing up baseball/tee ball and I am so looking forward to no more sports for awhile.

But we both work full time. I just can't handle the idea of putting them in more than one activity at a time.

[wannabe]

We're a lot busier during the school year and usually she's in some sort of day camp for at least half of summer, but this year we decided to try the lazy, little to no schedule summer.

She has comp cheer practice twice a week, music lessons once a week and goes to a math program for at least a hour three times a week.

It's still too much downtime for me. I'm kinda killing myself to keep us both entertained all the time. Thank god for our Disneyland annual passes.