For those of you who make your kid to at least one sport each semester...

[magnoliaparadise]

Many people here say that they make their kids do at least one sport each semester. I'm just curious what that time commitment means to you - how many hours/evenings (or weekend days) does your kid do the sport each week? Do you mean a full travel team, like 2-3 nights a week? Or just a one hour class?

My oldest DD does a lot of activities, but is not naturally into sports. She does play/run/bike around a lot informally around the neighborhood (especially in the warm weather) and also does a lot of other things that touch upon sports - eg, theatre which requires some dance - but she does no sports teams.

This year, I made DD do at least one sport each semester, but none were teams. At different times of the year, she did short-term class of swim, "ninja", ice skating, gymnastics, karate, or dance. Each of these were not big commitments - they were once a week classes and DD1 often ended up missing a ton because of the normal attrition due to snow days, getting sick (nothing out of the ordinary), and conflicting commitments/travel, especially if the class was on a weekend.

So... I am guessing that when most people say that they make their kid do a sport, you are meaning a team that meets at least a couple of nights a week - and if so - how do you get your kid to do it if s/he really doesn't want to?

And if you make your kid stay in a team sport, how do you have time for all the other commitments - religious and other things s/he might want to do?

[TwinFoxes]

My kids aren't on travel teams. Other than summer swim and dive which has practice daily and meets twice a week, their sports practice one or two times a week and have games once a week.

[bnme]

When my kids were younger they were always in at least one sport. It was rec-type leagues and usually one game and one practice per week. I did it mostly to keep them active and expose them to different things. Now my oldest does travel soccer and school soccer and track. It is a huge commitment, but his choice and he loves it. I would not require him to do it. My younger son had also played soccer and baseball for many years. It turned into mostly baseball (they always did rec basketball in the winter), but now at 13 there really is no "rec" type option. He has aged out of Little League and doesn't want to commit to travel (and is not at the skill level). Unfortunately there is no baseball for him to play. It is harder when they are older to find sports that are not super-serious and heavy commitment. It really sucks for the kid who wants to play for fun.

I don't know if I would have required it if they weren't that into it, especially if they had other activities (like scouts, instrument, etc).

[smilequeen]

Time commitment definitely varies. My oldest is a good athlete so when he went to two sports, it was travel hockey and select baseball. Both were multiple days per week with weekend tournaments. Hockey was more travel, baseball was usually only one travel weekend. Most tournaments were local for baseball. There is enough competition for that. Hockey was 2-3 weekends away, at least. Now he’s moving towards just hockey (season starts in late summer and ends in March) and skating and working with a personal trainer during the summer. But he skates 1-2x a week and sees the trainer 3x/week...but the gym is 5 minutes from the house so I just drop him off and take the other kids home or to the park. Summer is quiet for us. My other 2 hate baseball and want to do fencing and we have a pool so I ended my summer requirement for them. They stay active enough. They play hockey. My middle is on a low level travel team. He’s a little to fast/skilled for rec hockey here (rec hockey is not big here). So there is still a decent time commitment. 2-3 days per week, where my higher level son is 3-5 depending on the week. Youngest is still at the age where hockey is all rec. 2-3 days depending on whether they have games. Between the 3, it’s a lot.

[JBaxter]

We do club soccer. Last year DS3 played U15s which was practice 3x a week 1 1/2 hr and games on weekends sometimes tournaments anything from local to 3 hrs away if its a big tourney. DS4 play in the development academy U10s practice was 2x a week 1 1/2 hr each games/ tourney on weekends. Soccer runs September to April here so by then they are ready for a break. We found rec soccer lacking with kids who weren't serious about playing or even showing up for practice or games. We would have kept DS4 in rec longer had the majority of the kids really wanted to play . We do pay a good bit for our club soccer but the coaches are paid and the kids want to be there and play. We really only have time for one sport or it would over stretch my boys. DS3 is in a really high performing school and there are only so many hours in the day for him. DS4 also does guitar.

[icunurse]

I don't know. I guess I dont see the point in making kids be in a sport, especially as they get older and sports get more competitive, require more time, and are more expensive. Around me, even the rec league teams are a fair time commitment, so unless you are a SAHM or have a lot of help/driving connections, it can be hard. Plus, why do it if your kid isn't really into it?

DS likes the rec league stuff (1 practice and two games per week). He could probably do club soccer (2-3 games and 2 practices per week, year round), but doesn't seem interested in getting to that level. He has also done rec basketball (he isn't good, so it's more just physical activity for him). He's done swim lessons in the past. Baseball here is nuts, even just regular not travel, so I'm glad he has never really expressed much interest in it. Now that he's in HS, rec leagues are done, but he has a lot of outside stuff related to Orchestra and chess, so HS schedule is pretty busy.

As much as I wanted DD to play a sport, she just couldn't care less about them. We tried. It was awful. But she is very much into dance and the dance team. She tried the running club for one year (the kid can run!), but she didn't really like it. So she does dance and school clubs and orchestra stuff.

Even with just two kids and me having a pretty flexible job, it's a lot.

[gymnbomb]

My parents rule was I had to do something active, but that at various times was a once a week dance class, swimming lessons, once a week gymnastics class, low key summer swim team, and for a few years a 3-4 day a week plus weekend meets gymnastics team.

We are trying to do the same for DS at least most of the year. He has done once a week gymnastics, once a week skiing, and once a week swim lessons. Those only occasionally overlapped to 2 activities a week.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

We don’t follow that rule. 1-2 activities at a time. Doesn’t have to be sports for us.


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[magnoliaparadise]

Wow, it's interesting to hear of so many kids who are actively pursuing sports when it's not something my kid would choose to do at all.

At this point, I feel like we are still 'generalists'. I keep my kids busy with extra curricular activities, but not generally not much that meets more than once a week (an occasional theatre production requires more than once a week, but not throughout the year like some of these teams).

I tend to agree with icunurse that it's hard to see the point in making kids do a sport, especially as they get older and sports get more competitive and more of a time commitment if they don't want to do it - if DD1 doesn't want to do it, she digs in her heels and it's just exhausting trying to get her to do it. So I have to pick my battles/priorities in cases when she does not want to do something.

But I would really like to keep DD1 active and, more than that, have her find some physical outlet that she loved. So... I am hoping that I find something (and soon, since all the older elementary school/middle school kids around here seem to have already found their 'sports' thing and are increasingly skilled/competent at it). DD1 does like dance class, but not in a competitive way and not in a way that the teacher makes them just do the same steps over and over again monotonously, like they seem to do around here.

I keep meaning to try some less usual sports - boxing, fencing, jujitsu - or some sports that haven't been introduced to the kids yet so she can start at the same level as other kids - volleyball.

[JBaxter]

We did taekwondo for a while also The boys really loved it. We moved far enough away that we couldn't squeeze it in. They also had a after school pick up / after care option.