Sports & Fitness Kids Sport

For those who have kids, just wondering what their activity levels and schedules are.
We have a 7yo girl and she currently does Little Athletics on Saturday mornings in the summer season.
During the week it's gymnastics for 2hrs on Mon/Thu
Sprint training on Tue afternoon for 1hr.
I want to put her in for another session just starting next week on Fri afternoons.

Wife says no, that it's too much
Wife has got her learning piano now and wants her to spend time on that, which I work around.
1 lesson a week + practice at home.

Wife wants her to be academic, I want her to be athletic !
Obviously, she can be both.

Anyway, I'm gonna keep pushing it because this age is a great window of opportunity for motor skill development and learning discipline, as long as it's not overdone and as long as they are enjoying it.
Just quietly, I think she favours athletic activity over piano

 

my 7yo son plays under 9s cricket (he's the youngest in the team but was given the chance to play) 2 hours training on weeknight and 2 hours game on saturday. wife was very happy that he loves cricket...a bit of introvert. we watched cricket on tv...too much time wasted.

I think balance is important. My 9yo daughter has 2 classes of dance a week and a Australian Girls Choir on a weeknight. That's a bit much but she's really thriving..

Add a weekly swim class which is a must and Chinese school (2 hours a week)...I think that's about it.

 

Gymnastics for 2hrs on Monday AND Thursday? So you are proposing she has one weeknight off per week (or not even depending on when her piano lesson is) and one day off a week? That's too much imo. I'm with your wife. Kids get burn out these days - kids! They should be free to play and be bored and just be. School already takes up too much time. There is so much time yet, for her to pick something she adores and to dedicate herself to it.

Is she your only child? It gets so much harder the more children you have doing extra curricular stuff. I am out every single evenings (sometimes at a couple of different things) and my kids are only allowed 2 things each. It's not much of a life when you spend the whole thing just running from one place to another.

But I guess it all boils down to - what does your kid WANT to do?

 

The gymnastics is recreational level, not competitive.
She was doing what's called development last year but to get good, the coach wants them doing 18 hours a week !!!
Now that is too much in my opinion, unless you want to be an elite gymnast.

She is a single child so I guess that's why I want her to be good at something, wish my parents pushed me and offered these opportunities.

Why do you say kids burn out these days?
If shes not doing something, she always say's shes bored and got nothing to do.
If it was up to her, she'd just sit and watch TV and play IPad all day, but she still gets her fair share of that too.

 

My daughter is 10. She has played 4 years of Netball and this year will be her 5th year. She still has to play U11 this year because of her age, and our club will put forward an U11A team. Also discussed at internal club trials on Monday (and next Monday), is she will play up in an U13A team as well, as a 'development player'. Kona is already at least a foot taller than anyone in U11 (she wears size 11 shoes already, and is about 5'6" tall), and can hold her own in U13 as she 'played up' in my team I coached last year. Unfortunately her age disallows her to play representative Netball until she is U12 in regional competitions. A full year in U13 should give her pretty good insight into what is expected.

She currently shoots at least 10 nets per morning, and 20-30 nets in the afternoons. She will train at least twice per week (possibly 3 if she trains with my team), Indoor netball comp on Thursday afternoons, and Saturday she will play 2x outdoor games. She love love loves it! We rarely have to push her.

I love how she has developed into a player. She now talks up the team, and plays pretty aggressively. She also has a bit of real estate on the rump, which helps get that little bit of extra position in the goal circle .

pinkboy

 

At least 1 hr of swimming year round
Gymnastics x 1hr
Couch surfing x 5 hr

 

I'm dreading the soccer season that's about to start.

Our 4 year old does dancing and swimming lessons once a week
Our 7 year old does karate, piano and swimming once a week, then from April we'll have soccer training plus game day
Our 10 year old does guitar and swimming once a week, karate twice a week then we'll have soccer from April. He would have loved to do cricket over the summer but it's too much for us.

 

Pushing too hard too young

As for the boredom thing - I think kids need to be bored more. I know when my kids are first home all the time on the summer holidays it is awful. It's like they have forgotten how to play. It takes a few days (of boredom) for them to remember they have an imagination and can use it.

My sisters kids have every minute of every day filled. They absolutely can not entertain themselves. What will they be like as adults? I actually think we are seeing what they are like as adults - instant gratification, constant stimulus, inability to switch off, higher burn out rate.

Children should be allowed to be bored

From the above article:
Dr Belton, who is an expert in the impact of emotions on behaviour and learning, said boredom could be an "uncomfortable feeling" and that society had "developed an expectation of being constantly occupied and constantly stimulated".
But she warned that being creative "involves being able to develop internal stimulus".

 

I was pushed to play basketball when I was a kid by my mum, because I was good at it. I used to make deals with the div 1 district coach that I would only play as long as I didn't have to go to Sunday training, I absolutely hated every moment of it. Told myself I would never make my kids do something unless they really really wanted to do it (except swimming lessons, every kid should know how to swim). My boys 4 at the moment and all he wants to be is a monster truck driver and I'm happy with that.

 

Why is being bored such a bad thing? Everyone needs to learn to entertain themselves and at 7 there should be time for just being a kid. Any time my kids complained of being bored I had a list of chores that needed doing. Fastest way to get them to suddenly remember something they just HAD to do!

What activities does she prefer? All too soon there will be more homework, so give her at least one or two afternoons off each week.

Don't push too hard.

We didn't, and somehow one of our kids managed to finish up Australian champion for 8 years in a sport he took up age 17.

And you're the adult. Switch off the TV and the modem if you feel she is spending too much screen time.

Marg

 

I'm almost 40 and still want to be a monster truck driver!

 

My kids all do the same sports, it is easier, and cheaper that way. Especially with 5.

The tend to do 2 activities each week at any one time, although sometimes there is overlap.
So they all do cheerleeding through school terms (go away for competitions and such). And they all play hockey (non competitive due to age) on a saturday morning over winter and over summer all do swimming 1 night a week and attend parkrun with myself and hubby each week. Before Hockey they used to do little athletics for a couple of years, but they got bored of that, we may try it again next season.

Otherwise we tend to get them out on the weekend doing sports / activities that you don't need to join groups to do and we can enjoy as a family. Bike riding, running, kayaking, hiking. (Although weekends - particularly sundays - are usually dedicated to my sports that I do: hockey, soccer, running and triathlon training. So hubby will often take all the kids out to do things without me or we fit them in around my activities and events).

Mine don't do music or anything though. If they did we would probably cut back a structured sport to fit it in. I do think your wife has a point about overloading with commitments.

 

Good feedback guys.

My girl definitely won't be forced to activities she really doesn't want to.
When asked tonight if she enjoyed her gymnastics class and wanted to continue with gymnastics, she confirmed yes.
When asked what she likes better, gymnastics or little athletics, she confirmed little athletics.
When asked if she wants to do a 2nd day of running training she said no, so definitely not going to push her into it.
When little athletics season finishes soon, there will be room for something else to try.
I really don't see a problem with the frequency or volume of activity, provided they enjoy it, are getting enough rest/recovery, are healthy and are developing overall both physically and mentally.

 

My 9 year old daughter plays netball on Saturday mornings in winter and has a 1 hour training session every Wednesday afternoon during the season.

She does dance 11 months of the year which means 2 hours practice every Tuesday afternoon and Saturday mornings 4 hours for the last 2.5 months of the year.

She also loves reading, art, playing with her friends, coming to golf with me and bushwalking on weekends.

She's pretty relaxed about everything I guess im pretty lucky with all that I guess.

 

Good stuff.
What sport did your son play?

 

My soon to be 8 year old has swimming once a week (1/2 hr) and karate once a week (1hr). It doesn't sound like much compared to some of the schedules! But that's all he wants to do. Actually, scratch that, if he had it his way he wouldn't be doing swimming, but that's a non-negotiable. He ebbs and flows with the karate thing, and as much as I'd like him to continue, I won't push him into it.
Now piano sounds great, but I can see him not wanting to do it if it's not 'fun'.

Incidentally Ace, if your daughter is enjoying all the activities, great. But some parents go a bit crazy and fill their kids schedules up completely and the poor kids don't have time to just be kids.

The Overbooked Child

 

Been there, done the 'lots of activities' thing, run myself ragged. Thank goodness my 12yo and 9yo are beginning to streamline as my 6yo begins to ramp it up.

Currently, 2 go to singing lessons, 2 got to swimming lessons and 1 does sewing. We dropped athletics and softball this year and have been doing a family parkrun on Saturdays instead. 2 will be in netball and 1 in soccer in winter. The girls are still deciding if they will do acro and cheer...my life will be less hectic if they don't!

They also do extra things before and after school - 2 do fitlab training, 1 does band and choir, 1 does debating.

In the past we've done gymnastics, ice skating, ballet, jazz, art lessons, writing workshops and cricket as well. Not all at once It's safe to say my kids have had opportunities to try a lot of things - but I'm tired...