Help me not be "that mom"

[drrn04]

Natalie is starting to show a lot of interest in different activities.

She told me she definitely wants to do dance this year again, so I'm going to hopefully enroll her in an actual dance studio (vs a class at the Y or something) to start a more formal instruction. They have classes for kids her age and I think it will be a good fit.

But she's also seen kids playing tennis at our athletic club, and has been asking for about 2 weeks to take lessons like those kids, so she can play. They do have a little peanut league for kids ages 4-8, it includes a raquet, and isn't obscenely expensive. Additional court time is pricey, but the lessons themselves aren't outrageous, and there's a tennis court in our development that is open to the public for free, so she could play with H there.

Is it crazy to put her in 2 activities? She's only 4, will be 5 in Feb, and will be in preschool 3 mornings a week. BUT, she is a ball of energy, and things get ugly when I don't run her ragged. There's a big open gym type thing at the club that kids can run wild at in the winter (but during limited hours due to other schedules for the club).

I was also thinking maybe some sort of art class at the Y, since she love that too, but I know she'll get to do a lot of that at preschool.

AND, of course, she has gymnastics fever from the olympics. TUrns out there's a school around the corner from us.

2 non-school activities are more than enough, right? How would you pick?

[Deleted]

I would pick 2. I do not think that is too much.

Personally I would do gymnastics and tennis. My little sister danced from the time she was 3 and in the early years it seemed like a waste of alot of money. That is just my opinion though!

ETA : I didn;t realize your DD already danced. If she has already started that skill I would stick with it then. Let her pick on of the others.

[peekay]

I would sign her up for everything she's interested in, and then just not be a hard ass if she doesn't feel like going one day or wants to quit. She'll probably settle into one or two things she's really great at or interested in and drop the rest as she gets older.

[Deleted]

2 is enough if the schedules are reasonable. I wouldn't do more than that and 2 would be the high end of my limit.

[Deleted]

2 is fine.

[looseseal]

Can you start her with one and then add activities one at a time to see how she handles the extra ones?

[idoinjuly]

I feel like more than two would be overkill for your schedule. Personally, I would probably start dreading taking her to all of those classes. I would be tempted to sign her up for everything she's interested in, but my laziness and practicality would probably win out.

[cleo29]

I would let her do two per season, perhaps dance being one that is constant and the others switch up.

If she is showing interest in tennis, I would go with that one for now. And come winter perhaps gymnastics.

[Deleted]

god, booby, your mother must have been exhausted.

[peekay]

Aug 9, 2012 8:34:26 GMT -5 @booby said:

i would probably put my kid in all of them. why not? if you can afford it and she is interested in them - then i think it's a good thing. but i know i will be one of the few people that respond this way. every time we talk about this on here there are so many people that think you should limit to one or two activities. when i was a kid, i was always enrolled in at least 4-5 at any given time. swimming, brownies, piano, dance were my things. and then, i was always able to convince my parets to put me in new stuff alongside of these activities.

I'm the same! I was always in brownies, swimming, dance, drama, piano, singing etc all at the same time. I think I had an activity a day. I still remember lots of free time and being left to my own devices a ton. I was one of four kids though, I think my mom was very organized about car pooling so she didn't have to haul me everywhere. My siblings were all in different activities.

[meganew]

Aug 9, 2012 8:34:26 GMT -5 @booby said:

i would probably put my kid in all of them. why not? if you can afford it and she is interested in them - then i think it's a good thing. but i know i will be one of the few people that respond this way. every time we talk about this on here there are so many people that think you should limit to one or two activities. when i was a kid, i was always enrolled in at least 4-5 at any given time. swimming, brownies, piano, dance were my things. and then, i was always able to convince my parets to put me in new stuff alongside of these activities.

I agree with this. I was always involved in a ton of stuff when I was a kid, and yeah the running around was exhausting, but it was totally worth it. As I got older I think it helped me stay out of trouble, so I say start em young! Haha

[ndolehan]

I agree - two activities.

Dance is a great idea. If she sticks with it dance can become very time consuming if she decides on difference styles, competitions, or dance companies. IMO - coming from the dance world - starting at a young(er) age is great. It might not seem "worth" the money now, but believe me, the instructor is teaching fundemntals they will use in dance and the rest of their life.

Is tennis year round? Perhaps she can take tennis 1/2 the year and art the second 1/2?

[cleo29]

I think the rule of thumb should be let her do what both of you can handle. No sense killing yourself just so she can do 5 activities in addition to school. I also think you could probably find plenty of random, one day activities here and there to round things out. Things at the library, community center, etc.

[OHMBLEEGOHHHHH!]

Kristen is starting dance and soccer in a few weeks. She's mad because I didn't sign her up for cheerleading as well. I was thinking about it, since soccer is Saturday mornings and dance is Tuesday evenings, and that's not so bad. Maybe if they have winter cheerleading after soccer's over.
I don't think it's too much, especially with school only being 3 mornings a week. Is tennis seasonal? You could add something in after that.

[saraandmichael]

I think dance and tennis are fine. Really, if she is showing interest I would keep letting her try things. So long as you can commit to the schedule for her.

[peachykate]

My poor mother drove me to gymnastics 5-6 times a week year round, my brother to hockey several times a week year round, and my dad took my sister to soccer since he coached. We all only did one sport.

I think 2 is more than enough though at 4. I think we only did one thing per season at that point plus brownies.

[textbookcase]

I don't think 2 is too much. I think we were doing 2-3 activities at 4 and weren't overwhelmed. Last year was overwhelming, but I was pregnant and exhausted and we really had to cut back on some of their activities.

[Deleted]

Aug 9, 2012 9:12:11 GMT -5 cjoy said:

I think two activities is fine. I don't like to have every night of my week taken up by kid activities since I have my own interests as well.

thank god. i thought i was crazy or lazy or something.

[drrn04]

Yeah, I don't mind her being busy later. I mean, I did brownies, dance, piano, and church stuff, but that was when I was like 8. I got really into dance later, and ended up dropping the other stuff in 7th grade, and I really regret dropping piano. She'll start that in a couple years (probably around 1st grade).

I just didn't want it to be overkill with all this stuff, since I want to have my own activities/workouts too. But I suck at doing impromptu stuff like swinging by the library, and do better with schedules. 2 it is! And maybe swim lessons here and there on weekends.

[eightangryreindeer]

Two is fine. Knowing how to play tennis opens up like one million more future doors than being good at gymnastics unless she's a prodigy.

[cleo29]

And I tried a ton of things; soccer, basketball, tennis, softball, field hockey, swimming, ice skating, dance and did the brownies deal and piano. If I had to pick one that I was naturally really good at, it would be swimming, but I loved that I learned to play so many sports and was decent at all of them.

Childhood is the one time in life where it is totally ok to be flighty and try a million different things.

[eightangryreindeer]

Aug 9, 2012 9:12:11 GMT -5 cjoy said:

I think two activities is fine. I don't like to have every night of my week taken up by kid activities since I have my own interests as well.

/dials CPS

[Deleted]

Aug 9, 2012 9:41:50 GMT -5 @booby said:

it wasn't exhausting for my parents. most activities were after dinner, so i would get home from school, we'd have dinner and then my parents would drop me off whereever i needed to be. and then pick me up an hour later or whatever. they didn't stay there with me. everything was always 5 minutes away (the community centre, the dance school, the music school, etc. were all in the neighbourhood).

i can certainly see this. given that i like to come home, put on yoga pants, and either work out, sew, or plant my ass on the couch, that still sounds exhausting to me with the in the car and out of the car and all interrupty and boring. i'm sure that since i love my kid and stuff i'll do it, but it's making my eye twitch.

[sonrisa]

You can always do two at a time: a tennis and ballet class in the fall. Two different classes in the spring.

I don't think I started any activities until school age. I have the baby in an activity right now, but it is really more for me than her.

[drrn04]

Yeah, I want to start working out regularly at the club, but her swimming lessons time aren't coordinating w/ the class schedules, and I'm getting irritated. I want her to do her thing, but at the same time, they offer 2 hours/day/kid of free babysitting and i want to use it dammit! Swim lessons and Elizabeth's naps are throwing a major kink in my plans! I need to get toned up before our end of Sept anniversary trip, and i'm running out of time!

Effing kids.