What sports/clubs do your kids do?

Parentberries
1

After coming home from school today, A informed me that over summer she’d like to join some kind of club. She said that some kids were talking about what sports they do and she felt left out so wants to try one.

We’ve been here before. She’s tried a few, and hated them all. She does swimming classes - something that we are insistent on, as we think it’s important, and luckily she enjoys going so it isn’t a fight. She goes to Rainbows (Girl Guides) and loves that but she gets disheartened by it sometimes as she’s having a little trouble making friends there. The one girl she was very friendly with left recently so she’s not enjoying it as much.

Léo is so much more laid back than her - he goes to the occasional toddler gym class, swimming weekly and just started football club. He just takes it in his stride. [name_m]Ad[/name_m]èle is just very picky and if there is one aspect about something she doesn’t enjoy, she won’t do the thing at all.

Everything I suggest she seems to turn her nose up at. I need some inspiration! [name_m]Feel[/name_m] like I should think outside the box a little. I’ve looked through sites looking at local clubs for kids but nothing is standing out…

What do your kids do?

2

While my girls aren’t old enough for clubs or classes I was a very active child. Here are some things that I tried as a child.

T-ball
[name_u]Piano[/name_u] lessons
Ballet
Irish dancing

Once I was older I was involved in 4H.

3

I’m a little bit picky when it comes to what my kids do outside the home because I think a lot of it is wasted time. I have a large brood so driving all over creation to take kids places is not my thing, so if at least three of them can’t participate in the activity, it isn’t worth it to me. We homeschool so we do want them to be involved in clubs and activities but we’re pretty specific about them.

C, N and B do Awana which is a church club that they really enjoy. My husband and I did it as kids and it’s just a part of the culture of our family. All of their cousins are involved in it at our church and I can stay and bring the younger two to play with other little ones.

They also do Upward sports which I love. They do football, basketball and soccer. I can bring all of my kids since it is hosted at our church.

[name_m]Trail[/name_m] Life USA is a [name_m]Christian[/name_m] based Boy [name_u]Scout[/name_u] type group that they [name_u]LOVE[/name_u]. My husband is their troop leader and it has been a wonderful activity for all of them.

This summer my oldest two are going to a summer day camp for the first time for two weeks. It’s a Biblical based STEM camp and they are so excited.

That is about it. We go to church every [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] and [name_f]Wednesday[/name_f] so a lot of socializing and group activities are done during that time. Sports practice, [name_m]Trail[/name_m] Life, and Awana once a week is plenty to keep them occupied. Now, when baby girl comes along it’ll be interesting to see how we work around doing activities for the boys and her having her own desires. At that point we will have to re-access and probably cut back on some things.

4

While, I don’t have any of my own, I was very active as a kid, and I have very active nieces and nephews that range from 13- 2 months.

My oldest niece does Lacross, and she is the uttermost pickiest kid ever. She has tried field hockey camp, track which she never ended up liking after one time going. She has been doing Lacross just this year, and she’s really into it. She loves it, and has been keeping up with every game. She also goes to a catholic school, so it’s smaller than normal. She is part of their school plays and loves that too!

My second oldest niece is just active as ever. She has done dance, gymnastic, and softball. She still does gymnastic and softball. She did dance for 3 years, and decided between dance and gymnastic when she turned 6. Softball is a family sport for us girls in my family, and my own mother still plays. My sister and her best friends mother coach her team, and she has been playing for two season’s now, and loves it. My niece is very active and knows what she likes sport wise.

My littlest niece only does dance and she loves it so far.

My nephew only does soccer so far. But he has been doing that for atleast 3 years and loves it. My nephew goes to all my second oldest nieces things, and usually hangs out, and finds friends wherever he goes.

When I was younger, I did softball, basketball, and field hockey. I played softball in town till I was ten. I didn’t love it, but I met a lot of my friends as a kid through it, and it was my time to socialize as a kid. I was always at some kind of field growing up. Basketball starts in 3rd grade for my town, and I fell in love with it instantly. Everything about it was my favorite. I played that in till high school. [name_m]Field[/name_m] hockey starts at 7th grade for my town, and it’s something that everyone has done girl wise in my family, and I loved it. I only played it for two years, as my hs didn’t have it. I was very active as a kid, always outside, and always doing something. I grew up in a neighborhood, so I was never inside growing up.

5

I don’t have kids, but I was an active child (I was also a [name_f]Rainbow[/name_f]! Then a Brownie and a Guide).

My mother sent us to tennis ‘camp’ for two weeks every summer - but we happen to live very near the tennis club so it was very easy. Also it was called ‘camp’ but we only went for about 5 hours (and lunch was provided).

What does A like doing? I did camps/activities while my parents worked that was essentially ‘supervised structured free time’ so we got to do some sports, or crafts, or singing etc. and the point was we got to choose what to do - perfect for a picky child! The one I went to was called Bumblebees, I don’t know if it was national or if it still runs.
Could you talk to the other mum’s at school to see what her friends are doing?

6

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t really encourage us to join various clubs and looking back, this is something I regret. I was in marching band for a bit and I went to Chinese language school on [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] for two years-ish, but then I stopped. When I was still in elementary school I went to church on [name_m]Saturday[/name_m] and Buddhist temple on [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] (long story) so I guess that took my time too.

When I have kids on my own (still years from now), I want them to take at least one foreign language class, music class and martial art class. If they express interest in another thing, such as ballet or sport, I’d be happy to sign them up too.

7

[name_f]Noor[/name_f], [name_f]Viola[/name_f] and [name_u]Lexi[/name_u] are all taking swimming lessons twice a week after school on the days that [name_u]Lex[/name_u] is at our house and not at his mom’s. [name_f]Viola[/name_f] is in a ballet phase and [name_f]Noor[/name_f] is more interested in jazz dancing so I was able to find a local dance school that offers both in the same hours so their dad could drive them to and back more easily on his days with them. So far it’s been working well and I’m glad that my ex is finally getting to be more hands on with the girls because having four daughters + stepson all together on some nights is pure madness!

I don’t put my kids in girls scouts, brownies or whatever because I once attended as a kid for an entire year and it was a very horrible experience, personally. I also prefer activities more related to the arts than hiking and selling baked goods, me being an art teacher. At home we always do activities, especially on weekends. The girls and [name_u]Lexi[/name_u] enjoy watercolors and finger-painting, making collages, playing with pottery clay and all. I don’t really mind the mess on my table because I think it’s completely worth it, I love hanging their best art around the house and making mini expos of their work for when we have visits and just for us really. They love showing off their stuff as well.

When they are at my grandmother and mother’s houses they like to be in the garden a lot, playing with dirt, watering the plants, planting seeds and helping with the weeding. I don’t really have much of a green thumb like my mother and grandmere so… :slight_smile:

8

My parents have always kept me and my sisters involved in something active and I’ll do the same for my kids.
I started dance when I was in kindergarten and I still love it. I’ve been competing in dance since I was 8. There are girls on my dance team who have been competing since age 5. While I think that’s a bit young, I’d love for my kids to find their stride at that age.
My sisters both started dance when they were 2 but neither enjoyed it. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] also did gymnastics, tennis, and cheerleading, and she now only takes tumbling at my dance studio. [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] plays soccer and does tai kwon do. She also likes tumbling but my parents only let her do 2 sports (she’s only 10). All three of us also did soccer at one point but I quit when dance got too intense and [name_f]Leah[/name_f] was never into it. We also go to the beach every year so we’ve been through swim lessons.
I’ll probably initially put my kids in either dance or gymnastics because I think those sports build both strength and flexibility that other sports don’t focus on. They also encourage kids to try new, sometimes difficult things. I’m not sure if I’d do Girl Scouts because I had a similar experience that @lailanotlilah did. The girls in my troop were very cliquey and often mean. [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] is still in Girl Scouts but the girls in her troop are similar to mine and my mom wants her to quit after this year. [name_f]Leah[/name_f], however, really enjoyed Girl Scouts and is thinking about joining again this year (she quit due to too much schoolwork). I’ve also found that Boy Scouts can be a bit annoying so I probably won’t put my sons in scouting either. I also hate camping and don’t wanna join my daughters on their trips :wink:
I hope to take my kids to the beach every year so they’ll also take swim lessons. Other than that, I just want my kids to enjoy whatever they do. They will be allowed to quit their dance/gymnastics after a year.

9

Isn’t she old enough to be a bit more specific about what she wants to do? I’d ask some questions to try and get closer to what she is looking for. Does she want to try a competitive sport or a physical activity that is more about personal achievement rather than competing with others? If she wants some element of competition, does she want a team sport or an individual sport? That should narrow it down a little.

My kid is too young for much. We did baby swimming but now we just take her to the pool to play as a family rather than a structured course. She recently did a little toddler gym [name_m]Saturday[/name_m] class for 8 weeks as she is not very confident physically and we wanted to give her some help in overcoming that. But obviously she is not old enough to say she wants to try this or the other. In a year or two I’m going to take her to English club on Saturdays and hopefully she’ll enjoy it enough to go along with it for a while at least, but that’s not a sport of course.

When I was a kid I went to Brownies and Guides and I pretty much hated it because I am not one for organised fun in that way, especially not organised group fun. I found the whole thing ridiculous (I was a rather supercilious child, I have to say, but I still don’t like organised fun). My mother always said I’d enjoy it when I got there but I didn’t unless we played rounders (which actually we did fairly often - on reflection I don’t think it was a very good troop as we rarely did anything that interesting). I liked actual sports much better and always really enjoyed P.E. at school, so really I should have asked to do something like that. I don’t know why but it just didn’t occur to me - I suppose I found P.E. lessons to be enough, but then with the constant rotating of sports you never really get very good at any one thing. Is there anything your daughter has tried at school and enjoyed? Anyway, I want to say I think you are doing the right thing by letting her take the lead and letting her quit things she’s not into, because I wish I had quit Brownies waaaay sooner.

What I did do as a child that I enjoyed very much was horse-riding - lessons and, once I was competent, riding out by myself and with friends. I was lucky that my mother had part-time access to a horse. Of course this can be a very expensive activity and not always doable depending on where you live, so it’s obviously not a universal recommendation. I certainly couldn’t do it these days (well, I’m sure I could but the travel/time and expense involved wouldn’t be worth it for me).

10

Hello god bless :slight_smile:
our children are super athletic, our youngest 3 are in ballet and my oldest (23) likes playing basketball with his boyz haha.

11

My kids are still quite little and just take swimming lessons.

[name_f]Do[/name_f] you have a community college that puts on summer camps? Maybe let her look at their course catalog and pick out the ones that appeal to her.

As a kid I played violin and viola for 8 years. I wasn’t great but I really enjoyed being part of the orchestra, especially playing with the same group of kids from elementary into high school. I also did theater camps and tried golfing (I was the worst golfer). And starting in 7th grade I was involved with Odyssey of the Mind, now call Destination [name_f]Imagination[/name_f]. It’s a problem solving competition through schools, including elementary, and was a lot of fun. My team made it to global finals one year and I was able to meet other kids from all over the world. The great thing about it is that it develops a wide variety of skills especially creativity, quick thinking, and resourcefulness as well as long term planning and goals.

12

My daughter has tried Girl Scouts, Irish dance, tennis, cooking classes (offered as an after-school enrichment thing), tumbling/intro gymnastics, and she’s about to start a hip hop dance class.

The big boys do water polo, swimming, flag football, tennis, basketball, junior lifeguards (summer), and have tried a handful of other sports/activities that they weren’t that into. My littles haven’t really done too many things outside of preschool yet but we’ll probably have [name_m]Zach[/name_m] try t-ball soon because he loves to throw things.

Has your daughter tried an art class or crafting? Maybe knitting would be a fun thing to try, too.