KIDS + EXTRACURRICULARS, SPORTS .... how do we feel about them?? | LAUNDRY CHAT 

I think it 's nice for kids to try these different sports/lessons so they can see what they may be interested in....................if they don't try it, they won't know if it's something they would love to do..............

I agree with everything you said 100%. It becomes an idol and takes away from family time.

One of my biggest regrets is that as a kid I never stuck to a sport/extra curricular activity. As I got older I felt like I missed out when I compared myself to a girl who say, did do dance from when she was little.

I totally agree with you. My kids are both in dance and gymnastics it’s once a week each it’s very manageable. I just drop them off and pick them back up. I will normally stay in the car with my youngest child. Honestly, like you said it’s not fun it’s not something I want to do but my kids love it. We don’t do anything competitive even though my daughter is in a very competitive dance studio, there is the option to just do the one class a week. You can draw your lines where you want. I want my kids to have fun and do activities, but I will not let it take over my life.

Our neighborhood is full of families. The kids find each other and organize themselves into activities like street hockey, soccer, driveway basketball, bike races, so forth. We don’t have to plan everything for them.

Have you considered putting the kids in defensive type classes like Brazilian jujitsu? Yall could go together as a family, the kids get exercise, and you get the added benefit of learning how to protect themselves

I was a lifeguard in my teenage years, i strongly suggest swimming lesson even at a young age. It is sport, but also a life skills. If they fall into the water, the kids know how to get to shore or at least not drown within 20 seconds. They can even scream for help before drowning! It doesn't need to be competitive. A lot of company are even teaching at home.. It is the only sport i will force on my child, swimming lesson will stop when i will feel confortable with her skills. Stay safe!

I love these videos. I’m watching while ironing 😂🫶🏻

Yes! I do agree with most you said, but I can also see kids need movement and sometimes we cannot provide that at home (at least in my case). We are right now testing some activities in the summer to see which ones we like, as I also do not want them to become THE thing in our lives. So just some low-key activities, once a week... We are soon starting tennis, swimming lessons and music lessons. And we'll see how it goes. I don't have a girl, but I think a nice activity for girls is ballet. Not any dance, just ballet :)

I would suggest an individual sport. Maybe Riley can try tennis or competitive swim, or your boys can do golf when they are older . These sports can be done their entire life too.

My oldest is in baseball. So we all as a family we go to baseball games and practices. I make sure I have dinner done so either when we come back or go we have that family dinner together or breakfast. Now my second oldest is going to in it too so they’ll be together.

So nice to see you today! I hope you’re enjoying the mountains! ❤

I have the same thoughts. My daughter is interested in dancing but we just do the YMCA dance like you said it’s so low key. Plus the costumes at a studio are $100! My daughter also does music and they use keyboards. I figure music will last for a lifetime. The YMCA sports are also low key too. We think we are going to get our son into judo as that’s also great for life, music and judo give so much more than sports.

How did you find the co op?

I love your mature thought processes on extracurricular activities. I am a grandmother helping raise my granddaughter due to the type of career my daughter and son in law have. My daughter did dance and tumbling and piano. She tried other sports and she did not like it at all. Piano is the only thing that is helpful to her now. My daughter says she does not want her daughter to cheer at all (and she cheered even in college). She says it isn’t worth the risks and injuries. She is like you also on the whole dance competition and inappropriate dance moves. My daughter says her best memories are us all playing spelling bee words with the basketball hoop game. Also, my husband was a great baseball player and he would play with her in the backyard and go over basics (just in case she might like it). So, you will know if your kids have a passion for something. I like how insightful you are to understand that even if they do enjoy some things, it isn’t who they are and define them.

Piano lessons are a great idea!

I was thinking of putting my kids into different classes too but one night we read a book from the library - “The Berenstain bears AND TOO MUCH PRESSURE” and it could not be more accurate time to read that book.

I totally agree with you about dance. I get it for girls, I'm just blown away with the music, the costumes and the dances. I have all boys. But I live on the other coast from you in Naples, and we have an indoor soccer program and it's for both boy and girls, you choose the time also. The organizers are super helpful and it's not competitive at all, just teaching basic skills and cooperation. It's called soccer shots here, I'm sure there are similar programs there. Your kids are still young and you are a wonderful mom! They are pretty amazing little humans without being in any organized sports so keep up the good work ❤

I have a very similar mindset as you. However, as my son got older, so many of the boys are on sports teams, with 1 million practices and games a week, that we ended up joining too so he has friends. He is 11 and in our area, it seems like you’re either playing sports or your kid has limited extracurriculars options. With my daughter, who is younger, and closer to Jackson’s age, I have the same mindset about dance. I was thinking, maybe letting her try Irish step dance.

Love this point of view

My daughter does dance, but they don't offer summer classes. She goes September to June, once a week on Saturday, and the kids learn a dance and put on a recital at the end. It's low maintenance, if you have to miss a week or something no one really cares. There's a lot of different dance style options, and you can enroll the kids in more than one style of dance, but we don't do that. Just tap once a week. A lot of other studios in town have classes, as well as a competition team, but I'm not into all that.

I agree with everything you’re saying about dance. I grew up dancing, ballet, tap, jaz, Irish step, and there is a big difference between the competition dancers and the “regular” dancers treatment. I recently went to my baby sister’s dance recital and I was shocked with the things they had some of the little kids doing and wearing. I have two daughters and always pictured them in some sort of dance class when they got get older but now I’m rethinking it. Possibly ballet or Irish step would be ok because I don’t think there is a way to make that inappropriate, but who really knows these days.

I totally agree with you about how you view making sports your entire life! My kids have been in gymnastics and they only go once a week at their age (6 and 4) so that's been easy to manage. And trying to get their classes at the same time is also hard 😅I know as our kids all get older, it'd be harder. I'm thinking more of like a non sports extracurricular that's once a week

Yes yes 1,000 times yes. My kids are the same age as your Kayla, and all the team activities are 3 or 4 days a week, and many are right at dinner time. That's just not going to work for our family. And I'm with you on the girls dance stuff too. Plus there's an opportunity for some unhealthy body image issues in dance or cheer or gymnastics.

Kung fu!! So nice to let them exercise but they don’t require competitions it’s optional and they learn to defend themselves along with making new friends

My son started track and field when he was 6. He is now 10 and goes 2 times a week. He loves it...but hates to compete. And he just doesn't go when there's a competition. And it's okey. No one forces him. Sports is so important, for the mind and body. I know nothing about his practices besides what he tells me. He goes there after school himself (I don't live in US, so kids use public transport), comes home by 6. When my daughter gets a bit older I will definately put her some sort of sports thing either track/swimming or whatever she'll like. Kids sports shouldn't be stress for parents, I just don't get that...

We’re in the exact wave length. Instruments is what we’re into and swim for safety purposes

It was interesting hearing this as a European because we don't have that culture here. I'm in France and it's actually really difficult to find activities for kids under 5. And then I'd say one kid out of 3 maybe has 1 extracurricular. But also school finishes much later here, like around 5 or 6. I used to play handball and practice was often at 7 or 8 in the evening and it made the day really long

Yes totally agree. We do a more relaxed view on this. My son and daughter do recreational gymnastics on Sunday just for an hour and that's that! It's not competitive and great for all ages. We have also done a sport ball class where it's an hour to learn various sports once a week. I'm not sure if you have community centre's that offer classes for kids it's usually just a recreational once a week thing. I also hate the idea of a serious structure of competitive classes. I hated dance growing up and I really do not want my girl to fall into being subjected to that type of environment. Most places is such a money grab too. My kids are aged 4 and 2 and I think recreational is the way to go just to explore team work, learn something new, and find what they like to do.

For extracurricular activities for my kids, they will be doing 4H, there are some many great things within the 4H program.

I agree with you too. People put their kid in all this stuff running them ragged going from here to there and there is not time for family time. I have my daughter in swim for a little because it’s a safety thing but other than that she doesn’t need to be in a bunch of activities at age 5.

Financial stress on the parents, plus time. The kids have to be older to decide what they want to sign up for. Fees are non-refundable and they need to understand they’re committed for the season.

This was so refreshing, thank you! I want my kids to find an activity that they are interested in, enjoy and teaches them the life skills that come with team sports… but where we are it feels like everyone thinks their kids are going to the Olympics or something 😂 and is competitive and so intense and I am just not about it becoming our whole life.

I feel the same way. I was never in dance and didn’t even learn how to dance to music until I was in my 20s… and I didn’t want that for my daughter so I signed her up for dance last year. One of the studios I visited gave us a free first lesson. WELL, then they dropped all of this info on me, how I’ll have to sign up for a year tuition in advance. And I was like, “Ma’am, my kid is 2yo. I’m looking for like a 2 month class, once a week, and then it is over after that 2 months.” 🤣 I did find something like that at our local art center. And then we tried gymnastics for a few months. It has been great! Now we are taking the summer off to swim in Mimi’s pool. I’m more go with the flow, let’s do something here and there to learn some skills and have fun.

I completely agree!

I agree with you so much! Also, the prices of these sports and extras are so expensive! I have literally said that I can’t have another child because my two girls would never be able to do any type of sport (not the right way to look at it because I don’t even have my kids in any type of sport or program) but I mean if they ever wanted to join one or have a passion for one, it’s insane the schedule and price! I can’t even fathom it. My girls are still young so I don’t know how to navigate this either.

my daughter is in dance classes once a week and they do a winter/summer recital very low commitment I haven’t had a problem with too revealing of costumes or not like the type of dance yet I hope not lol she’s in ballet/ tap so maybe that’s why ! They also have a competition team but it’s optional of course.

I keep.seeing you wear that dress and it compliments you so well! Where did you get it, if you didn't mind me asking?

I agree with most points that you made. I was a competitive cheerleader and I found so much joy in my life through those years. Some of the best times in my life were my cheer years. The camaraderie and friendship was unmatched. It was a place I felt safe and accepted unlike at school. I feel like your kids are too young to worry about it right now. My daughter’s 10 and she’s still trying to find what drives her the most so we have tried lots of sports. I don’t know if she will have the same experience that I had because I started young and knew what I loved right away. So I won’t push her and just allow her to find what makes her happy and if that’s not a sport I’m ok with that too. It’s different from my journey but this is her journey and I can’t stand when parents push their kids into things they don’t want to do. I don’t want my daughter to be a cheerleader because I totally agree with you about the music, the make up, the uniforms I just can’t stand it as a christian mother. To each is own though.

Swim lessons are good for kids 😊

Totally agree with all this esp dance. We do swim on Saturday in the morning and found a class based on nap time. My daughter does martial arts and I love that we can switch up our days and times. We can just show up for whatever class works for us that week. Some times they want us to come more for competitions and I just have to tell them no or we do a zoom session for the competition or belt promotion if the in studio times aren’t good for our family life. We started right before lent and they wanted us to come to extra classes in the beginning as a promotion and I told them no we have mass next week for Ash Wednesday and can’t make extra class this week. They weren’t the happiest with me but are fine with it. Dinner time is also very important to do as a family as much as you can. Video idea of what you do everyday for prayer alone or as a family ect. Or tips for 3 kids for mass

I have 3 girls under 6. They ALL go to soccer at the same time and they all do gymnastics at the same time. I think that’s the balance.

Also, agree about the dance topic you brought up. My husband and I are absolutely not sending our girls to dance because around us, it’s all hip hop and explicit music or the costumes are not appropriate, in our opinion.

lol okay you are right iin a way.

I just wanted to say that I’m 28, I have one little girl and I couldn’t agree more with what you said about the outfits and dance moves these little girls are doing! I feel like I’m someone’s grandma when I talk like that around people lol I don’t trust people. I understand practices might be different, but anyone can show up to these dance competitions and watch the girls dance…. I hate it so much

Kayla, i have followed you for soo long and this is the first time I don’t agree 100% with you. I strongly believe that we are living a world where academic is not the only path to success. I think that exposing a child to a variety of sports or extracurricular activities since a younger age can help them find what they like. I have observed more high schoolers graduating without knowing what they like- most of them struggle so much to find their path that get in trouble while at it. Nowadays, most teenagers are not open to do extracurricular activities due to the fact that they are plugged in technology. Which can be a totally different story if you expose your Lil one in art or sport class at an early agee. My son, 5yo, has been to Dance class since he was 4, gymnastics since he was 2 1/2 and i have never pressured him, but instead I follow his lead. If he wants to take a break from a class, then we do it. We don’t sacrifice family time as we talk about his classes and try to go with him and be present. However, I do agree about some dance studios that are not appropriate. But this is where a parent needs to find what is best. If the outfits are not appropriate then I don’t let my child participate at the recital, I think that as a parent you have ways to manipulate things around. On the other hand, I truly think Jackson may benefit from gymnastics and Riley from some sort of art class. Yes! There are times that we as family have to stay late to make sure we are ready for game the next day, but this also shows discipline in an indirect way. Well, I guess this was a very popular topic! Thanks for bringing it up

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What happened to getting Riley her cat?

tiny fairy dancing Kayla when very young age

am good at playing violin i were in orchestra since fourh or fifth grade ageeeeeeeeeeeee ago elematary called MURDY MUSTAND moscow horsy

We do two things. Swimming, because of safety, I live near lakes and rives and water safety is important. Once a week for 30mins. We tried soccer, she hated it, so stopped. Then we do dance, taps and tutus, she loves it, once a week 45mins. That's it. She loves theater and dance so I know that's my future in some ways, but the studio is behind my house so if she does continue it'll be easier as long as we don't move lol I have friends who do the whole travel thing and omg no never not happening sorry but ugh no

So I take a family focused approach rather than a kid focused or parent focused approach. Basically what that means is I take the whole family into consideration, as we are all in different stages and have different obligations. I don’t want to say no as a parent bc i don’t like it heat or the commitment, however i dont want to be child focused and lose all the family dinner times or do every sport they express interest bc otherwise there will never be a calm time. I have a four month old, so I can’t really take baby out in the bright sun in the middle of the week for practices, as we are in Texas. On the flipside, I still have a two and four year-old that I want to provide the opportunity for them to partake in activities so they can learn lessons with the sports as well as get exercise and socialize them. Granted socialization is not the biggest priority, as we socialize during the week with co-op And play dates. Currently the best thing I can do is swim, so it helps me to know that they are safer when swimming as they know the basic techniques to save their lives, each class is 30 minutes, they can eventually progress to competitive swim, and I can tend to my four month old during my four year-old class as the four year old group swim solo with the instructor. However, during the two-year-old class, my husband will be tending to the four month old and 4 year-old as I have to get in the water. We tried the soccer thing with my four year-old, who at the time was 2/2.5 at the time, my 1-1.5 year old was still little and breast-feeding, and my husband did not want to stay solo with her as she didn’t take a bottle, so after about four times we noticed that he wasn’t interested in soccer, he wasn’t gaining much out of soccer as most of the time he was asking to go home because it was so hot, the conditions were not safe for my younger one, and we thought of searching other avenues. I do think taking the entire family into consideration is imperative, but some sacrifice has to be given on everybody’s part if one or all of the kids end up in different sports/activities.

Wait whats the issue? Whats the problem if a kid takes sport seriously? You have extremely religious view about dance and sport. Thats not what reality is. Yes you seem talking 5000 y ago!