Author Topic: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year  (Read 11838 times)

Hula Hoop

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Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« on: September 13, 2017, 09:33:38 AM »
Can you have a thread to discuss what kid activities we're signing our kids up for this year?  I've always been frugal by nature but just discovered Mustachianism. 

Anyway, I have two kids - 9 and 5.  I already signed up the 9 year old for a girls only coding course on Saturday mornings since her school doesn't even have computers, let alone teach coding. She's generally nerdy and interested in science and math.  She did basketball twice a week last year and loved it but this year she seems to be losing interest as her favorite teacher is leaving.  Basketball is cheap and heavily promoted at her school (inner city, lots of concrete, no grass).  She also plans to continue with girl scouts this year.  I bought a decent second hand keyboard a few months ago thinking we might sign her up for piano lessons.  I have two close family members who are professional musicians - and others who have music as their side passion and I suspect she may have some of their genes.  But piano lessons are decidedly non-mustachian.  Around her they're generally euro 20-25 an hour.

Kid #2 is only 5 but she seems to want to do basketball.  I think she'd enjoy it and it's cheap so there's that.  Last year she did dance once a week but that doesn't seem to be her thing.  At 5 IMO one activity is enough but she may sign up to be a girl scout too if the troop re-forms from last year.

Anyway, scouts and basketball are both cheap but coding and music lessons are more pricey.  I don't want to overschedule my kids but I do think it's nice for them to try out different things to see if they like them while they're young.

What are the other mustache parents planning this year for activities?

Meesh

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2017, 11:02:54 AM »
I have my 5yo in a few activities. He is science crazy so I signed him up for the local ymca science class. Ymca members get half off so its $25 for 2 months. He also wants to be a ninja so we've tried both karate and gymnastics. Gymnastics was a major winner but it's more expensive at $72 for 2 months. I had him in year round swimming for safety reasons at $25 but now that I'm less worried he'll drown in the apt pool, I might cut back on swimming, I'm not sure. Right now that's about $61 a month for 3 classes a week.

I'm interested to hear what others do...

Laura33

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2017, 11:28:02 AM »
We had a rule for years:  one thing at a time -- plus swimming, until the kid was competent in the water.  Over the years, the choice has varied based on the kids' changing interests -- gymnastics, karate, softball, basketball, baseball, etc.  We focused on sports largely because my DD was extremely energetic and had to sit too much in school, so I wanted activities that would get the wiggles out.  I was also happy to sign them up for any after-school clubs they wanted, because they had activity buses/daycare, and so we could fit that in with our schedule -- but again, only one at a time, because I didn't want my kid to be totally overscheduled.

Music is fairly recent (our schools don't start instruments until 5th grade).  My rule with my kids is that I am happy to pay for music lessons, but only if they are willing to practice 15 minutes a day (which I consider pretty much a bare minimum of effort).  To date, neither one has been interested enough to take me up on that.  :-)  But the offer is still open.

Now DS is in middle school, and he has a lot more clubs available before and after school, so I imagine he'll try quite a few -- which is fine, the schoolwork isn't exactly overwhelming yet -- and then want to do basketball this winter and baseball next spring.  DD is in high school and is done with sports generally; band and engineering are more her thing, but now she is getting more involved with the various honor societies, which always require you to attend a number of events, so she seems to be keeping pretty busy with those.  Also, she is doing drivers' ed to be eligible for her license in a few months, and there will be PSATs/SATs this fall as well -- so I think that's enough for now.  :-)

Goldielocks

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2017, 11:40:37 AM »
Last year (grade 9) and this year are awesome for me.  My youngest is 15 this year.

Activities:   
High School after school clubs, including encouragement to enter science fair this year.   
Coursera programming course.
Signed up to take a school course on-line to allow an extra elective slot next year.  Our school has very good non academic elective choices. 
-- I need to help reinforce working on these on-line classes, however, very hands on parenting is required for it to work --
Instructions to find a part time job by the spring or he will be required to referee again this year (he decided he did not like it last year and wanted to quit). 
One or two summer camps.   
If he stops being helpful (e.g. attitude, sleeping in, video games, no homework ALL the time, not just 90% of the time) he knows it will be back to Cadets once to twice per week.  (Daughter was in girl guides for a while when younger)

My oldest started college now, but lives at home.  I just transferred over 3 months of her allowance and told her to manage it wisely, and she pays for everything now, including her Zumba class, bussing.  She will get allowance until she is 18.

I am so excited about this phase of our lives.   I commiserate with all of you, and posted this so you know how great it gets.  When the kids were ages 7-12, the goal was to find activities that did not require (much) driving, that did not cost a lot, and only 3 hrs a week, maximum, each, needed from parental support to make happen.   Elementary had almost nothing after school until grade 7 with volleyball /basketball.

One area that worked for me was to use church-affiliated programs, like junior choir, youth groups, and of course sunday services / sunday school activities, to round out the "free" or low cost social times.   In the end, the church related youth activities naturally built DD's volunteer service hours tremendously and she was able to get two scholarships because of it, which I never expected.





jeninco

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2017, 12:12:25 PM »
Mine are also older, and have a lot of energy. So "something physical" has always been part of the plan.

16-year old: Playing HS Soccer, will probably play club soccer in the spring with the reasonably priced club if they have an appropriate team. Otherwise, will play adult soccer. Part time job, 4 AP classes -- I think he'll be sufficiently busy. After HS Soccer ends, he'll possibly join a Tae Kwan Doe class taught by a dear friend and great role model.

13-year old: Club soccer (with the reasonably-priced club), instrumental music lessons. I made a deal with him when he started: I'll be in charge of paying, you be in charge of playing (i.e. practicing). He's been really good about it, and has gotten fairly proficient. He's currently waffling about whether he wants to stick with a youth orchestra he's auditioned into.  It's clearly not worth the tears and stress, so we're OK with whatever he decides -- although we'd prefer a compromise position of "stay with one of the two ensembles, not the other." Pretty sure we'll just have to eat the tuition (note to self, plan to pay in two halves the next time we try something new like this) but they're a good group to support, so I'll probably write it off as a donation.

We're not particularly interested in being cheap around kid activities, but we do prefer to pay for activities that (1) they're actually interested in, (2) with coaches who respect them and want to see them grow as people, as well as in the specific activity and (3) with organizations that have values aligned with ours. (4) if we can set up a giant honkin' carpool it's a giant bonus: currently I drive one leg per week from younger kid's practices: in previous years the kids were able to bike to the fields and each parent drove the pack of kids home once every two weeks (with a bike rack).

We try to hit the sweet spot of "you have enough to do" without wandering over into the kids being stressed out and over-scheduled. Both kids need some down time and transition time to be happy.

Hula Hoop

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2017, 01:07:17 PM »
I just ran the number and am thankful that my girls seem to be interested in less expensive activities.  Also, the cost of all things kid related around here seems to be a lot lower than back in the US.

Basketball twice a week is Euro 32 a month per kid.  New uniform for younger kid will cost Euro 20.

Scouts for the older kid I costs around the same but we'll also have to get her uniform - not sure how much that will cost.  She already has the necessary camping equipment.

Coding course for older kid is 40 euro per two hour lesson for 7 weeks so kind of pricey but only temporary.

ChiefMomOfficer

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2017, 05:15:41 AM »
My three boys are of widely varying ages, so they're signed up for very different activities:

My 13 year old (14 next month) is very active in Boy Scouts. That's his main activity, although he is a part of an anime club that meets at our library. He also goes to an arts school with an extended day, so he doesn't get home until about 5:30.

My 10 year old is in cub scouts, but they don't do nearly the number of activities the Boy Scouts do. He also plays an instrument (mostly during the school day, but there are evening concerts) and will be part of the drama club (free).

My 2 year old mostly does free library activities but also does a swimming class with my husband (a stay at home dad).

Like Laura we try to have one main, paid activity each year. That way the kids can focus on excelling in that activity, and having fun with it, but still have plenty of free time to do schoolwork and have fun.

gluskap

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2017, 05:13:00 PM »
My daughter is only 3 so we've only signed her up for swimming lessons so far.  I've also thought hard about not having too many activities so am debating if I want to continue with the swimming or to try dancing lessons.  I think she is more interested in dancing but I want her to be more comfortable in the water before stopping the swimming lessons.  So might do 2 activities for a bit of time to see which she likes better.

englishteacheralex

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2017, 05:21:26 PM »
Oh arg the kid activities. We have a 3 year old and signed him up for Soccer Shots through his daycare. $150 for thirteen sessions. I was pretty ambivalent about it but he always loves to watch the kids playing soccer in the park next to our place, and plays with his soccer ball constantly. We'll see how it goes.

It's important to me to make family time a priority, so I'm pretty against team sports with intense travel schedules. Might be hard to stick to that once the kids get older and have an opinion on the subject.

Looking back, I appreciated my mom's approach to extracurriculars: only stuff that will clearly be practicable later in life. My 12 years of piano lessons have served me well (I do a lot of accompanying and playing for various functions; I'm not a great musician but competent enough to help out when necessary in various amateur-level ways). Years and years of swimming has paid off handsomely now that I live next to the ocean and have access to surfing.

Mom was always adamant: no dance, gymnastic, or martial arts. Team sports were marginal, in her eyes. No lessons for anything you couldn't do after high school/college. There are people who'd disagree with that stance, (plenty of people play rec basketball/soccer/volleyball for life) but it wasn't a bad way of looking at things.

Plugging Along

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2017, 06:27:16 PM »
I find it quite hard to limit activities.  There are so many things my kids wanted and me too.  To try and fit them in, we try to get 'combined use'

Girl guides is a big one for both.   I find they do lots of different things tha I would never have thought ugh of.   I also lad both of my kids units which gives me time with them, a chance to give back to the community, and a chance to influence the type of things I want them to learn.

Piano - I wanted them to be  able to read music, and that will be a base for future instruments if they so desire.    They don't seemed o inter step, so this may be not ur last year.

Swimming - its a life skill, until they complete the final level.   I have been doing this in the summer camps just because of time. They aren't in it now

Skating - in canada it is pretty much a life skill.   So until they are adequate. Like swimming they are done right now.

Soccer - in the Spring.  I am a big believer of tam sports, and it's good exercise.

Skiing -  this is more of our family sport we do on weekends.  They takare lessons, then we meet them after to ski together, 

Math - this is one my kids begged for.   It's the most expensive, but they get extra challenging many h to prepare for competitions.   This is because my kids get very bored in school. , so they wanted this.   I have admit, I find it hard to say on this one, but it's a lot of work. 


Taylor3386

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2017, 09:40:25 AM »
My 9yr old is only interested in horses. I've tried to develop other less expensive interests for her, but she eats, sleeps, and breathes horses. Her grades are excellent and she helps around the house so it is hard to say no to lessons. We can afford the $60/wk lessons, but I really wish she preferred goldfish!
Because this is an expensive activity it is her only one, which she is fine with. She spends all her extra time reading about horses or making out dog jump "fences" around the yard.

mm1970

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2017, 11:05:44 AM »
11 year old:
- baseball (roughly $400 / year for fall ball + spring ball.  Not good enough to travel.)
- flute (until this year was free at school + extra district band.  Now he's doing those 2 AND symphony, $225).
- probably skip chess club ($100) it's at the school though.

5 year old
- swim (until he's proficient in the water): $1250 for the year
- fall baseball clinic (first year) $50

dphngbr

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2017, 11:28:53 AM »
Our 6 year old (1st grader) is in karate and piano, and swimming in the summer.  4 year old joins in on karate and swimming, and possibly also piano in the new year.  1 year old takes advantage of the free music groups put on by the local library (2x a week) and an additional group music lesson (1x week).  With Sunday school, this is about as much as we can manage without undue stress for now. 

Karate and piano aren't terribly Mustachian, but karate kind of runs in the family (both my husband and I were quite serious, and the kids seem to have really taken to it) and it's important for me for the kids to be musically educated.  Now that the two oldest are old enough for parks and rec programs, we'll probably move to those and save almost half of what we're paying for karate.  Swimming is through our neighborhood pool, which runs May - September and has lessons 5 mornings a week for 8 weeks, which eliminates the need for any additional summer camps. 

The specific activities going forward will probably change as the kids find new interests, but 2 activities per kid (not including summer swimming) seems to be our max in terms of time and finances.  I'm not willing to compromise on a regular dinnertime or to have more than 1 activity scheduled after school each day (because homework/practice/chores need to be done too), so unfortunately we have to say no to a lot of other interesting extracurriculars like scouts, art, etc. 

I should probably get the kids to learn to ski and skate at some point but it's expensive, time consuming, and it just doesn't seem to be as big a deal where we live now than when I was growing up in Canada.  :)

Hula Hoop

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2017, 11:35:33 AM »
We had a big heart to heart with both girls and they've decided that they don't want to do basketball this year and both want to do roller skating, which I at their school and not expensive (40 euro a month for both kids).  So now it's:

9 year old - roller skating, scouts on the weekend and coding course.  After Christmas she'll probably start piano.

5 year old - roller skating

Seems reasonable.

SEAK

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #14 on: September 19, 2017, 03:31:44 PM »
Way too many paid activities I know! I help coach their baseball and hockey teams and we ski together as a family so the paid activities are also time spent together. And we do plenty of free activities with the kids as well; hiking, backpacking, bike rides, berry picking, hunting, x-country skiing, outdoor ice skating, etc.

10yo son- hockey, soccer, running club (Boys Run), piano lessons, shooting trap team, downhill ski pass, baseball

 8yo daughter- hockey, soccer, gymnastics, ukulele lessons, downhill ski pass


emiloots

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2017, 08:49:18 PM »
All 3 of our kids were required to take swim lessons until I was comfortable enough in their swimming capabilities.  Our house has an inground pool, so it was even more important that they knew how to be safe around water. 

Son, 10 - plays Club soccer with regional travel/tournaments, they essentially play almost year round between indoor and outdoor

Son, 8 - starting viola lessons at school and taekwondo (he is not a team sport kid, we've tried - but he does really well with martial arts)

Daughter, 6 - pre-team gymnastics

We are fortunate to be able to afford these, as all of them are pretty expensive.  Our kids know that we spend a lot of our time and money on their activities and we expect a certain level of commitment.  So, if you're looking for frugal activities...I would not suggest travel soccer, competitive gymnastics or the martial arts!

Quest4Fire

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2017, 07:38:50 AM »
10 year old -
Horsebackriding- $ 400.00 per month
Temple school - $75.00 per month (religious school)
Piano - $100.00 per month
Swimming - $25.00 per month

7 year old -
Temple school - $75.00 per month
Piano - $100.00
Swimming - $25.00 per month
Robot Class - $160.00 2 months

No wonder we aren't retired yet!
               

FireHiker

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #17 on: September 21, 2017, 09:22:18 AM »
5 and 7 year old kids:
$320 for fall soccer (combined for both with sibling discount), season started late August, goes through November
They may do basketball after soccer, haven't looked into it yet but they keep asking. Will evaluate soon.

16 year old:
nothing in fall
rugby in winter ($250)
track and field in spring ($100)

At the beginning of 2017 we were still doing the following monthly:
5 year old:
dance $42/mo
gymnastics $93/mo

7 year old:
karate $120/mo

They really wanted to do the activities, but decided they didn't LOVE them, so we cut them with their consent and neither kid has asked even once to go back, so I think it was the right call.

The best thing this year is that the 16 year old decided not to continue with football. It was $600+ for summer camp and fall "donation", plus it would have cost us $24 each game to watch him play this year (varsity, $7/adult, $5/kid tickets).

LadyMuMu

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #18 on: September 21, 2017, 09:37:09 AM »
Kids 8 and 10:

This fall

8-year-old

Swimming lessons $100 (semester)
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd $25 (whole year)
Piano lessons $125/month

10-year-old

Lego League/Robotics $75 (semester)
Piano lessons $125/month

In the winter we'll add basketball for $57 each. Spring we'll do soccer for $50 each. May also add chess club in winter for $30 each.

mamagoose

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #19 on: September 21, 2017, 01:56:51 PM »
4 year old is currently taking swim lessons twice a week, and gymnastics once a week. We also go ice skating once a week (no lessons, my husband is teaching her) and will enroll her in ski lessons this season.

Sunnysof

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #20 on: September 26, 2017, 11:02:49 PM »
This has been just beginning this year, so hard to say yet if it will overload us, but definitely pricier every year.
9 year old- gymnastics, piano, Girl Guides
6 year old- gymnastics, piano, Sparks
Everything is combined when possible to cut down transport time, so the only thing split is Guides/Sparks.
We also signed up for a nature sketch club which I am loving, because it gets us outside every weekend, and combines the art and naturalist topics. I tag along and draw too, and figure once we do one session we will be able to do our own explorations.. I am also planing to invest in a Lego robotics kit and do our own home Lego club, as it's something I'd like to learn and cheaper than a paid class/club. In future, I'd love to join a family choir as singing is good for the soul, but we don't have time.

Reggie

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2017, 08:26:22 AM »
We put our kids (1.5 and 3) in swimming lessons in early September but I find they don't do to well with structured lessons. Also we end up missing 2 or 3 lessons per year due to other commitments / travelling.

So I think for the next sport/activity (which will be skating) I will just commit to bring them to public skating sessions once per week and put on my own lessons. That way we can plan around our schedule every week and we can choose the pace at which they learn.

formerlydivorcedmom

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2017, 01:54:58 PM »
I do limit the kids' activities somewhat, but we encourage them to try different activities to see what they enjoy.  The youngest and oldest are limited to 2 activities that I have to drive them to; the middle child is only with us Thur - Sun, so her choices are limited by what we can find on those days (her mom isn't a big fan of extracurriculars).

8-year-old
Cub Scouts -<$100/yr
Karate - This is offered as part of his after school care.  We pay $89/week for them to pick him up at school, feed him a snack, teach karate 2x week, and otherwise make him have fun until I get off work.  It was $150/month for just the karate classes, so I think this is a great deal.

10-year-old
Soccer - about $140 for the fall session + cost of new cleats

11-year-old
Private French horn lessons - $25/week.  She is in school band; they provide the instrument but require us to put her in private lessons to learn how to use it.
Math club competitions - ~$150 per school year. 
Volleyball - $400 per semester, plus about $300 in camps in the summer.  I refused to allow her to play on the travel team because it is every single weekend of the school year.  This cost will go down next year if she makes the school team.
Running club - $15/school year.  Basically she stays after school one afternoon a week and runs on the track with her friends.

I also drag the girls with me to the gym once a week. They get to pick whether to join me in Zumba or Step (or another fitness class of their choice) or to walk on the track/do the exercise bike.  Once my son hits 10, he'll be required to participate too - we want to encourage a lifelong interest in fitness.

I feel like we're spending a huge amount of money, but maybe that's just because I had to pay it all at once this month.

gaja

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #23 on: September 29, 2017, 06:35:39 PM »
DD9 has swimming once a week ($240/semester). DD11 has no paid activity right now, since she is a away at boarding school (deaf school) about every 5th week during the school year. But since we live in a "challenging" neighbourhood, the school offers a lot of free after school activities. Both girls are part of a group that make performances based on songs and dances from all the different cultures that kids represent. They are really great, and even got to perform for the prime minister last year.

11ducks

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #24 on: September 30, 2017, 03:11:28 AM »
DS 13 come to the gym with me 2x a week- he's a gamer, nerdy type, and would choose to do not much if allowed- however, now he is 5'10" and a (gentle, nerdy) tank, I figure he needs something to keep him in shape and active! Community gym costs $5/week

RetirementDreaming

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #25 on: September 30, 2017, 10:19:48 AM »
Son, 11
Basketball, 2 session (Fall, Winter)- $300
Flag Football, 1 session (Spring)-$150 + cleats

Daughter, 9
Musical Theater class, $154 flat fee through school
Girl Scouts, $100
Vocal class, $55 month
Violin through the school, lessons and instrument, no charge, $6 book

We have cut way down in recent months.  Swimming lessons, team gymnastics both are gone by their choice.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2017, 10:26:37 AM by RetirementDreaming »

Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #26 on: October 01, 2017, 10:01:36 AM »
She also plans to continue with girl scouts this year.  I bought a decent second hand keyboard a few months ago thinking we might sign her up for piano lessons.  I have two close family members who are professional musicians - and others who have music as their side passion and I suspect she may have some of their genes.  But piano lessons are decidedly non-mustachian.  Around her they're generally euro 20-25 an hour.

Is there a way to find a piano class versus private lessons? Private lessons cost more.

I took private piano lessons but that was back in the 70s and early 80s. I think back then, there were lots more moms who stayed home and taught piano to earn additional income. So it was easier to find lessons.  I wonder if there are just fewer teachers now so they can charge more.

Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2017, 05:28:15 PM »
I want to keep my daughter in theater and gymnastics, along with Scouts. A lot of our family members have criticized us for these expenses. I don't believe it's any of their business, anyway, since it's not like they're financing it. But I also feel it is important to get her away from her video game addiction (which is a serious issue for her, she can get so hooked on those that she won't do anything else). I also think it's good for her to be involved in things with other kids and she can learn from it all.

FLBiker

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #28 on: October 02, 2017, 12:34:36 PM »
Thanks for this!  DD is only 2, and she hasn't done any organized activities yet, but I appreciated reading the responses.

We're planning to do a "one at a time" approach to paid, structured activities.  Personally, I participated very little in that sort of thing, and I think I'm worse off for it.  DW is a big fan of girl scouts, so we'll give that a try.  And I'm definitely pro-music (I sing and play guitar) and I like the idea of tying lessons to a baseline of practice.  That said, I never took lessons.  We'll certainly have instruments around the house -- last Christmas, I asked for a guitalele.  It's fun to play, and it's size makes it a great first guitar. :)

As other folks have said, I'm less concerned with the money than I am with the over-scheduling & travel time.

Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #29 on: October 02, 2017, 01:03:21 PM »
Mom was always adamant: no dance, gymnastic, or martial arts. Team sports were marginal, in her eyes. No lessons for anything you couldn't do after high school/college. There are people who'd disagree with that stance, (plenty of people play rec basketball/soccer/volleyball for life) but it wasn't a bad way of looking at things.

My parents felt this way, too. But I think it's partly based on an old-fashioned prejudice against older people who take part in sports, dancing, gymnastics or karate.  (Or anything else physical). Many older people do these things for leisure.  It's also easier to learn to play a musical instrument as an adult, but trying to learn karate or dance as an adult can be far more challenging. That's why I decided not to push music lessons on my kids if they aren't terribly interested right now, and I'd rather them learn a physical sport or skill.

GuitarStv

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #30 on: October 02, 2017, 02:27:45 PM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #31 on: October 02, 2017, 05:07:12 PM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

KBecks

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #32 on: October 02, 2017, 05:17:29 PM »
Oldest does Boy Scouts, robotics club at school, Tae Kwon Do, and he has therapy once a week.  In November he will do swimming too.  We almost have too much going on.  He also likes tennis but plays seasonally.

Middle does Boy Scouts and TKD.  He will do swimming in November.

Youngest does Cub Scouts, hockey, trumpet lessons, TKD.  He enjoys chess but I have not signed him up for after school chess, we will probably do that after hockey season is over.

Bird In Hand

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #33 on: October 03, 2017, 08:31:46 AM »
We try to stick to one sport at a time, plus piano which goes year round.

Late summer/early fall: soccer
Late fall/winter: gymnastics
Spring: baseball
Summer: swimming

Piano is by far the most expensive, followed by gymnastics.  Soccer, baseball, and swimming are fairly inexpensive where we live.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2017, 09:25:43 AM by Bird In Hand »

GuitarStv

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #34 on: October 03, 2017, 08:47:30 AM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

So your only options as a parent are crippling addiction, or endless costs associated with organized activities?  There's no middle ground any more?

charis

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #35 on: October 03, 2017, 09:27:38 AM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

So your only options as a parent are crippling addiction, or endless costs associated with organized activities?  There's no middle ground any more?

It looks like the gaming addiction is already present, so there went the middle ground.  What would you suggest, a 12-step program? 

GuitarStv

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #36 on: October 03, 2017, 09:48:12 AM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

So your only options as a parent are crippling addiction, or endless costs associated with organized activities?  There's no middle ground any more?

It looks like the gaming addiction is already present, so there went the middle ground.  What would you suggest, a 12-step program?

In our famliy, screen time was limited to an hour a day.  We could use that to watch TV, play video games, or dick around on the computer.  Would something like that not work?

Goldielocks

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #37 on: October 03, 2017, 02:25:44 PM »
Screen time rules are very difficult, when the screens are the size of a tablet or cell phone.    Most kids will have a cell phone by the time they are 14, many much younger.   Our kids have to pay for theirs, but it is very easy to come by.   They get second hand ones, or gifted for birthdays, or cash for birthdays can be spent on one for under $200.

Yes, there are ways to manage that -- cell phone in a drawer, or turning of the internet, but these are not always great solutions, for various reasons.    A big issue is two income families.

The better way is to have the kids engaged in an alternate activity.   One family near me, this means the kids get a LOT of chores...  a couple hours a day of chores,  and more on the weekends where they are voluntold to help the family (uncle's) business.  Those kids are very resentful of their parents.     Other families choose after school activities like sports or recreation.   


Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #38 on: October 03, 2017, 04:29:18 PM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

So your only options as a parent are crippling addiction, or endless costs associated with organized activities?  There's no middle ground any more?

Activities don't have to cost tons of money. The church choir, for example, is free.  Scouts is cheap/almost nothing. She's trying out for roles at a theater; if she gets a part, she will be paid a stipend. We won't have to pay for anything except gas money to drive her to rehearsals.

Video game addiction can be pretty bad. I have a friend whose 30 year old son, lives with her, plays video games most of the time, and doesn't work even though he is healthy. He also goes skateboarding when he's not gaming. His stepdad wants him to start paying rent to live in their home, but he won't.


GuitarStv

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #39 on: October 04, 2017, 08:42:52 AM »
Video game addiction can be pretty bad. I have a friend whose 30 year old son, lives with her, plays video games most of the time, and doesn't work even though he is healthy. He also goes skateboarding when he's not gaming. His stepdad wants him to start paying rent to live in their home, but he won't.

I kinda feel like your friend is supplying her son with the drug and environment he needs to get his fix.  Free rent, free food, free electricity, I assume that your friend does the cleaning and laundry too . . . why would someone ever move out voluntarily from that situation?


Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #40 on: October 04, 2017, 12:39:03 PM »
Video game addiction can be pretty bad. I have a friend whose 30 year old son, lives with her, plays video games most of the time, and doesn't work even though he is healthy. He also goes skateboarding when he's not gaming. His stepdad wants him to start paying rent to live in their home, but he won't.

I kinda feel like your friend is supplying her son with the drug and environment he needs to get his fix.  Free rent, free food, free electricity, I assume that your friend does the cleaning and laundry too . . . why would someone ever move out voluntarily from that situation?

Yes, she totally enables him. He is a momma's boy, for sure.

Hula Hoop

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #41 on: October 04, 2017, 12:49:22 PM »
My sister and I never had any classes in anything when I was a kid.  I played with our neighbours and whatever happened to be around the house/in the back yard.  At around 10 my dad enrolled me in recreational soccer, which I sucked at and kinda hated.  I did swimming lessons through our school well enough to get my life guarding certificate, but never competitively.

How does one determine what stuff their kid should go into?  It seems like going to special classes is far more the norm than just going outside and playing, which is really weird and foreign to me.

Our child is friends with a neighbor kid who is not enrolled in anything. He plays video games at home all the time and she's been influenced to do the same, to the point where she has an addiction to gaming now. I am purposely getting her involved in activities so she won't keep hanging out with this kid who is influencing her to just be a Video Game Junkie like he is. I want her to do more with her life.

So your only options as a parent are crippling addiction, or endless costs associated with organized activities?  There's no middle ground any more?

It looks like the gaming addiction is already present, so there went the middle ground.  What would you suggest, a 12-step program?

In our famliy, screen time was limited to an hour a day.  We could use that to watch TV, play video games, or dick around on the computer.  Would something like that not work?

How old are your kids?  As Goldielocks points out, things have changed a lot since the advent of smartphones and tablet computers.  It's very difficult to control kids' access to these things especially once they are teens.  Much better to keep them busy either at home or away from home.

My kids' activities are not expensive.  We found a cheaper piano teacher for the older one through her school (50 euros a month for one private lesson per week).  She is also doing scouts (cheap) and roller skating at her school (also cheap - 30 euros a month).

My kids do a lot of hanging out too.  Older daughter loves to read so she reads a ton.  They watch some screens too but, for now, this is limited as they are too young for smart phones. 

Some of their activities I consider to be 'life skills'.  For example they both did swimming last year which I consider an essential life skill.  This year 9 year old daughter will be doing a coding course for 2 months.  They do absolutely nothing like this at her school so I just want to expose her to it.  If she hates it, we won't continue.

Chesleygirl

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #42 on: October 04, 2017, 04:21:25 PM »
We have found that, piano teachers get cheaper the further out they live from the main city area. So you just have to drive a longer distance. However, our child isn't interested in piano so we're not going to waste money on lessons.

Although it's great for kids to do outdoor things, we live in a part of the country that has extremely high heat index during the summer. It's not unusual to be over 100 every day of the week, in the summer. This really isn't ideal for playing outdoors for extended periods of time. So kids around here tend to be indoors a lot in the summer, playing video games, watching TV, etc. if they have a pool or pool membership somewhere, that is where they go.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #43 on: December 20, 2017, 07:54:41 AM »
We have two kids, ages 10 & 11. They play club soccer. Cost is expensive, although the least expensive of the 3 clubs in our neighborhood. I'd like my middle schooler to instead switch to school soccer, but the team is super competitive. 1500 kid middle school, combined 6/7 grade team. Will likely only take five 6th graders. He's a good, but not incredible soccer player. He ran cross country this fall with the school, and the cost was $100.

Club soccer (fall & winter + futsal) runs about $2500/kid & includes two tournaments & a summer camp. I like the coaching staff, & the other parents. Not loving the price, but we've explored a variety of other options. And for now, this is the one that works best.

Goldielocks

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #44 on: December 20, 2017, 12:01:37 PM »
I thought I was through the bulk of the kid cost / prices... now that the youngest is 15 and no longer plays team sports, oldest has to pay for her own activities.

Activities this year:
Sailing (summer) $500. 
He wants to learn to be an instructor, so $850 for classes over the winter (First aid, Personal watercraft, coaching classes).   He should get paid if he gets a junior instructor job, so there is that.  Maybe qualify for partial funding, too.

Weekend ski youth retreat:  $50 (plus ski pass, that he has to find his own money for)
School Ski trip $415 + lunch money

Total above $1800 (approx). 

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #45 on: December 20, 2017, 12:51:13 PM »
We sign my DD (4.5) for one activity a season. It's about 400$/year, so far - but as swimming and skating are non-negotiable life skills for me so far only the gymnastics and climbing lessons have been for fun.

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #46 on: December 23, 2017, 04:34:08 AM »
For us this is where we choose to spend a weeeee bit more.

12 year old- Very good and unmastachian Club Soccer and School basketball super cheap. Also involved in math club, music beyond school

13 year old- Very good but unmastachian Club Soccer, Student Councel, Math Club, Robotics class, music lessons beyond school

17 year old - Just graduated early from HS leaves January 6th for Big 10 college scholarship for , you guessed it Soccer. Years of Club soccer, played school BB but otherwise pretty much it.

18 Year old - Just finished First Semester Freshman in College out of State about 14 hours for yep To play college soccer.  He played everything growing up but as you can see the younger two are doing more rounded things based on what we learned going through with the two oldest. 2 oldest with there scholarships and now stipens we just pay for their phones and occasionally will send them some exta $. But only if grades meet or exceed coaches demands AND they stay the course on there degrees.

chouchouu

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #47 on: December 26, 2017, 11:17:11 PM »
I have five year old twins, they will start violin lessons (60 per lesson)next year and I was thinking of dropping their general music class as that adds on 2k per year. Their current general music teacher doesn't have quite the rapport with them as their last so I'm really hoping the violin teacher does. Apart from music they have swimming once a week which is  $192 each per term (4 terms a year).

I think two activities is enough at the moment, once they are competent swimmers we're thinking of starting them on nippers, mostly because DH is Polish and he's in love with being Australian. It will be a good fit for them either way as they are very active.

sjc0816

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #48 on: January 04, 2018, 12:10:33 PM »
We spend a lot right now on activities. Considering my kids will go to the largest high school in the state, we love the opportunity for them to be on club teams - in case they don't make middle/high school teams. They love sports.

ODS (11) - Club/travel baseball, flag football (rec), basketball (rec), golf, orchestra, chorus, running club (free).

YDS (8) - Club/travel baseball, basketball (he plays on a club team and a rec team), flag football (rec), golf, running club (free).

It's a lot and our schedule is insane....but our boys are extremely active and these things keep them happy/sane all year 'round (especially grateful for basketball in the frigid months).

jcc

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Re: Kid activities you're signing them up for this year
« Reply #49 on: January 20, 2018, 09:59:27 PM »
Still figuring this out. My daughter has vision issues that impact her hand-eye coordination but also has crazy high energy so its been tough to find things she likes that also meet her needs to burn off energy- standard things like soccer & tee-ball are not great for her. She also LOVES art and is pretty social. Our PTA puts on all-you-can eat school programming for $200 each quarter so she is doing a bunch of art classes and also skateboarding class and then we splurged on getting her weekly group ski lessons.

Younger brother has nothing going on - he's 2 and I think we may try soccer next year but are also excited to be trying out an outdoor preschool next fall so I expect he'll get a lot of energy out with that as well.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!