How did you pick an extracurricular activity/ sport for your DC?

[ourbabygirl]

DD is 4.5, and I'd like her to try a sport 'camp' over the summer (basically an hour a week for about 6 weeks). It would be great if it could turn into something she's really interested in (I was in dance growing up, and loved it), but I'm not sure where to start.

Looks like the choices in our new town for kids her age are t-ball, soccer, and possibly tennis. Otherwise I could try to enroll her in a martial arts class. I've mentioned dance to her before, but she doesn't seem too interested, so I don't want to push it.
One thing I will continue is swimming lessons for her and her brother, as I think swimming is an important skill to have, especially in our state.

How did you pick a sport or extracurricular activity for your young child, and where did you start? What determined your choice? (cost per lesson/ cost for equipment & uniforms/ class times/ seemed too dangerous/ didn't seem like a good fit for their personality or body type/ etc.) Did you go along with your child's requests, or did you have to put your foot down and say 'no' to anything in particular?

Thanks for sharing!

[buttercup]

Once it became clear to us that group sports would not work for our child, I picked one that i would have loved to play (and am taking lessons in)--tennis.

He has been neutral on it (no great passion, no resistance to lessons) so we've done it now for 3 yrs. Recently he decided he really likes running so exploring that as well.
PS. Had he had any requests, i would've honored them. I wish he was suited to group sports bc private tennis lessons are expensive.

[Seitvonzu]

i picked dance for my child when some friends were enrolling in the community college "creative movement." it was cheap and she'd be with friends, it was also brief (30 minutes). she liked it but never was COMPELLED by it or anything.

i sorta let it go, but then one day DD said something about "dance lessons" and i drove her straight to a local ballet school and signed her up. what really sold me is a told the woman "we're not looking for something super professional, she is not terribly coordinated" -- and the lady laughed and said "no child is when they are that age!" (bless her heart, i have NO delusions and my child was legitimately behind in gross motor coordination....but it made me feel so NORMAL :)

come to find out, she'd mentioned "dance" do DH a few times and he never told me.... *sigh*

so we've been doing dance since about 3.5 and dd is 5.5 now....wow- 2 years!). she doesn't love it passionately like some children, but the development of her coordination has been nothing short of miraculous(they basically taught her to jump....yeah, she was late, and then skip) and i like that she has a "sport" once a week (more in summer because we do "open" dance and go as many times as is feasible --it's offered 4 times a week). we were approached about a more "professional" track of dancing and i ignored that because while she does enjoy it when she's there, sometimes she'll resist going (this doesn't impact her behavior in class, so we keep going with it)

i'm thinking of adding piano after lu learns to read, and we need to get back to swimming. this seems sorta financially demanding typing it out, so i guess when the time comes we'll reevaluate. i think at this young age, i need to do some insisting though, because she'd say "let's stay home and play :)" :)

[Melbel]

We tend to allow the children to participate in an art (ballet, piano, theatre, chorus, art class, etc.) and one sport (soccer, swimming, basketball, triathlons). We balance our children's interest with location, schedule, cost, commitment, whether we know coach/teammates, etc. DH has coached both girls in soccer for years now, which has worked out great (practice in our neighborhood, nice families on team because you are permitted to request players). We have not ever required a child to try an activity, but we would require them to finish something they requested to do (under most circumstances; this has not been an issue).

[SnuggleBuggles]

Price, convenience, fit to their interest and ability.

[Seitvonzu]

oh-- i also picked a more individual sport b/c of the gross motor issues.... DH & I aren't super physical and it pretty much comes down to me to promote any physical fitness sorts of things.... i did what worked for me and what would provide coordinated movement practice. i'm happy with the result though i think DD would enjoy group things as well (but probably not once it become competitive/advanced)

[ahisma]

A combo of interest, availability, schedule and convenience. Often I sign him up to try something I think he'd like and let him decide whether to continue after the first session.

For example: DS did group music classes as an toddler. When he aged out he was interested in continuing with their Suzuki program. He tried it and liked it. He's wrapping up year 2 now and would like to continue.

I signed him up for rec dept. soccer because most of his classmates do it. He has very little soccer ability IMO, but he loves it. He's starting his 6th season (they have 2 seasons / year).

He does ballet because there is a free boys program at the local ballet company with a fabulous teacher. He tried it and liked it, so stuck with it.

[roseyloxs]

We've been doing seasonally appropriate sports for the most part. We did soccer in the fall, t-ball in the spring, swimming in the summer. Baby#3 was due in the winter so we took that season off but we are planning to do martial arts this next winter if the time allows.

Sounds like tennis or t-ball would be a good summer choice. t-ball has just started for us but it really involves a lot of standing around. I think most kids might have more fun with tennis.

[wellyes]

From those choices, I'd go with:
1. Her own preference.... show her youtube videos, if nothing else
2. Reputation or referrals for the individual camps, if possible if she has no

After that....

Soccer is a practical choice. Because there is no question at all that she'll have plenty of opportunities to play soccer when camp is over, and team sports are great for girls, and it's basically running around outside - what can beat that?

Tennis can be really fun. But I'd only do it if you have access to a tennis club afterwards and willingness to pay court fees for her to continue to play.

T-ball, every geeky boy I've ever known went to t-ball. In my own generation and I see it with my friends' kids too. So did many athletically gifted players I'm sure, but, of all the camps, she is most likely to find a few dreamy or musical friends there :)

[crl]

We insisted on swim for safety reasons. Past the toddler stage, and excepting swim, we have let ds pretty much choose. I have insisted that he do something and given him a choice of very low key activities. He became very interested in baseball and is now playing little league. Despite my fears that he would have a hard time keeping up with kids who have been playing all along, he is actually good. :). We are fully supporting baseball and hope he will continue to be interested.

I am insisting that he try piano this summer and if he doesn't like that I am going to insist he try guitar. If he hates both, I don't think we will push it. im not that interested in making him practice if he hates it. We did make him do chorus at his school last fall because we needed the earlier drop off time.

Dd is just three so we haven't really gone through this with her yet. She loves her tumbling class and if she had hated it I would have stopped. She's not a big fan of the pool, but we are going to try swim lessons again this summer.

Catherine

ETA. With ds if I hadn't insisted p, he would have done nothing. He's an anxious kid and that sometimes gets in the way of him trying things. I think it was the right thing for him that I insisted on him doing something because I think it helped him feel able to do baseball when he got interested in it. Dd is a pretty different personality so I don't know that I will take the same approach with her.

[jenmcadams]

My kids have always done a mix of sports/arts based on interest.

My older DD has rarely tried something she didn't like which has made it hard to choose. As she heads into middle school, she's bordering on over extended and will have to start making some hard choices (she currently does Soccer (basically year-round), Basketball (winter), Swimming (spring/summer), Children's Chorale (audition based professional youth choir), Piano and Scouts). She also has done other activities at school (Drama Team, Track Team/Running Club, etc.). Next year, she'll have the option to play some of her sports for her school, but unfortunately, most of the kids continue to do club versions of those sports too, so that may just add to the load, not reduce it :) I know she's giving up Girl Scouts and we may move piano to the school (she can take lessons during the day), but if she moves up to the Tour level of her choir, the commitment will ramp up substantially and she may have to cut a sport completely.

My DS has followed his sister's footsteps in some things, but not others. He's tried lots of team sports (Flag Football, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball) and really hasn't liked any of them. He likes to swim and does lessons during the week and team clinics on the weekend (he doesn't do swim team year round, just during the summer). He loves to sing (he's in a training choir with Children's Chorale) and he plays piano. He also does Cub Scouts.

I always said we would do 1 art/1 sport/Scouts and sometimes it worked out that way, but it's sort of spiraled as their interests developed and they didn't want to give things up (e.g. they wanted to keep playing piano even after auditioning for and making Chorale). I know we're lucky that I can drive them everywhere and that we can afford the activities, but we're always reevaluating to make sure no one is overwhelmed.

[IansMom]

DS is 4 now, and last spring I signed him up for soccer with some of his friends. He basically hated it. He enjoyed "practicing" with his friends but refused to play during games until the last game. I just let it go. Last fall, he started asking to play soccer. After begging through the winter, I signed him up for a 6 week (or maybe 8, I forget) clinic this spring. We have gone twice and he LOVES it. He was sad that class ended after 45 minutes on Tuesday. So, if he continues to enjoy it, I will sign him up for AYSO this fall (and maybe another clinic during the summer).

I generally have him in swim class several months throughout the year, but I consider that a life skill so he goes whether he wants to or not. I also signed him up for art because he enjoys all the arts and crafts at the library, but he says he doesnt want to go to art class anymore so I will let that drop unless he shows interest again.

This summer, he is taking an 8-week music class that introduces the piano and violin, so if he decides he wants to continue with an instrument this fall, I will let him. Right now, he says he wants to play tha violin AND the piano. :D

[codex57]

Swim cuz it's a safety thing. We pay a tiny bit more for lessons at the indoor pool cuz I think swimming outdoors here in the summer is child abuse.

We tried soccer cuz most people do that. DS clearly hates it so we dropped it. Are currently doing t-ball cuz I always liked that American image of kids playing little league. Surprisingly, he really likes it. He sucks at it, but he likes it. There's Little League here and the Pony League. No one seems to know what the difference is and people generally just sign up with whatever league their friends do. We're doing Little League which I like because they can use official MLB team names/colors so the uniforms are really cute.

He's trying piano. So far, he really likes it too. Didn't expect that but I think learning music is important to help learn other stuff.

We're going to resist football and gymnastics because of health/safety reasons. Hockey possibly (that's more of an expense thing). I'll prolly just teach them to ice skate myself.

Basketball is likely in the future, but we want to keep down the number of sports he does and balance his time with other things (like piano).

[maestramommy]

The first thing we have signed up each of our kids for is TKD, and that turned about to be a mistake. Well maybe not a mistake per se, but it didn't last because they didn't like it. So we have waited for them to tell us/ask us to do something. Swim was a slight exception but they know what swimming is, so when I asked THEM if they wanted to do swim class they said YES. Ballet was all on their own, and DD1 asking for violin was all on her own. DD3 is the earliest, started ballet at 3. But she's the youngest so it makes sense.

Extra curriculars cost money and time, so I only do things they really really want to do. And I wait until they really really want to do it.

[abh5e8]

we do swimming lessons pretty much year round. (for dd, age 6 and ds, age 4). dd has been in ballet for almost 4 years now and she loves it. its the ballet school of the local company, i picked it because they are pretty strict and she really gets a good workout. she is improving in balance and flexibility. and her friend is in her class. we are big on exercise, as a family, so i plan to pick something very active for each of them. gymnastics is another good choice. i think we might try soccer this fall for ds.

i also plan to have them each involved in some sort of music, probably piano. we might start with dd this fall. we have done kindermusic classes on and off since she was 18 months and they all enjoy that.

[niccig]

No choice on swimming.

His interests have driven things. I so wish he would not do soccer this fall, we've done it for 4 ys and we're over it. He's in baseball now and we used to have weekly gymnastics class, that he's good at, but dropped it for baseball as conflict. He wants to go back to gymnastics once baseball is over.

[twowhat?]

Probably not the answer you're looking for...but convenience. Soccer lessons are offered on site at their preschool. Since there isn't any structured instruction in the afternoons, the coach simply goes and gets the kids and takes them to the field next to the school for soccer lessons in the middle of the afternoon. And I don't have to do a thing:)

We strongly encouraged the girls to do it. DD2 was interested, and DD1 absolutely didn't want to (more of an anxiety thing than anything). But DD2 wouldn't do it without DD1. I asked the coach if they could watch the first lesson and the coach was more than happy to let them watch and even involve them in that first lesson. It just took one lesson and DD1 was convinced that it was fun. Though my understanding is that at this age, "learning" soccer is really more about the fun and learning about teamwork, sportsmanship, respect, etc,

Swim lessons is the only other thing the girls do. And that was (and is) required.

[crayonblue]

DD1 took ballet, soccer, art classes of all varieties (everything from still life to pottery to cartooning), swimming, etc.

My neighbor asked if DD1 might be interested in taking a theater class and if yes, we could carpool. I jumped at that. Well, nine months later and DD1 is in her 4th production, taking voice lessons and piano. You just never know!

So, I guess convenience was how we found what DD1 loves.

[Asianmommy]

When the kids were little, I asked them what they wanted to do and pretty much signed them up for everything to see what they would like. Over the years, they've tried swimming, ballet, ice skating, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, tae kwon do, piano, Chinese, & Spanish. Now, we only do what they really want to do, which is Chinese & piano, and they're just starting an archery class.

[smilequeen]

Mostly I let them try what they want as long as the schedule allows it. Some things I force...i.e. swimming and my kids have to finish what they start, but that's about it. Sometimes I decide they aren't ready for something yet. I am considering forcing at least a trial of a musical instrument for DS1 (DS2 is asking for guitar lessons, so he's good to go :)).

My oldest would just do sports, sports, sports all the time (except for 1x a week chess club that he also enjoys...but that might have something to do with the trophies...sigh). DS2 is into sports, but he's also into art and music. He wants to try chess too, so I guess next year we'll try to fit it in. The problem with him is the different therapies he is in for his ADHD and language disorder that take up that time.

My oldest LOVES hockey and that's his sport of choice. He likes baseball, so we do that too, but more recreationally. He's done soccer, lacrosse, and basketball, none of which he loves, but he'll want to do if his friends are doing them. He's asking for tennis lessons now. He loves to ski, but we have to travel for that. DS2 mostly wants to try what DS1 tries. He's doing baseball and hockey right now. Hockey is better with his attention issues. He has done soccer, is asking about basketball and tennis, and also loves to ski. But he also does art camp in the summer and wants to play the guitar (he claims he and his friends are starting a band :) in K :)).

[hillview]

I pick (DH does not) based on
time of the class (mainly weekends unless it is at their school)
what they say they want to do (DSs are 5 and 7 so this comes into play)
if there are any friends or neighbors who recommend this class/ place