practice

Parenting Tips: Extracurricular Activities – How much is too much?

Spring used to mean showers and may flowers – but in our family it signals the beginning of spring sports. If your schedule is anything like mine – the day picks up pace around 3:00 pm. The kids come home and the driving begins. I know I am not alone.

I have always been a firm believer in afterschool activities. It builds kids self confidence, fosters teamwork, and gives them an outlet for all of that pent up energy. The trade off is the ever important down time that children also need. In my case building down time into our schedule is almost impossible. With four kids that have different interests, each one individually has something to do just about everyday. And if we have to take one child to an activity, then everyone must come along for the ride. (You know I will post one of my parenting tips extolling the virtues of carpooling very soon!)

The problem that I see with extracurricular activities is not the activity itself, but the young age at which sports change over from something fun to participate in to something very serious and competitive. Practices quickly go from being once a week, to twice, thrice or more per week. And since “everyone” is participating – you must too to stay in the game.

My kids don’t seem to mind the schedule at this point. They enjoy seeing their friends and being outside in the warm weather. But it does take a toll on parents especially moms. All the afternoon driving means that dinner must be prepared or at least planned for early in the day. In our house school comes first – but when spring is in the air, it is hard to corral the kids into getting their homework done before the activities start. And don’t forget the cost. Each sport or extracurricular activity usually carries a fee for the program itself, along with an added cost for uniforms and equipment.

If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed the following list may help you out:

10 Parenting Tips for Managing Extracurricular Activity Overload

Determine your available time and budget and limit your children to one or two activities each.
Set up a carpool with one of your child’s friends if you can.
If you find out that your child will have more than one practice on a given day even if they are not at the same time, pick one to attend and skip the other. The coach won’t love you for it but keep your child’s best interests in mind. Perhaps you can alternate weeks for each sport.
Make sure school work doesn’t suffer. Just as you schedule your child’s sports practice on your calendar, you should also add homework time to the calendar.
If your child seems to tired to attend practice one evening don’t push it – but make it clear that you cannot routinely skip an extracurricular activity once you have made a commitment to attend.
On busy evenings try to free up your own time to devote to your kids. Make dinner ahead of time if you can. (check out these posts on vegetarian slow cooker recipes and slow cookers in general for some good ideas)
Participate by watching. If you are permitted to watch your child’s practice. Stay. It may not seem like it but your child will feel proud to know that you were there cheering him/her on.
Recognize when something isn’t working out. Everyone makes mistakes. If you or your child chose a sport or activity that he/she hates, and you’ve given it a good try, maybe you just need to write it off. If you feel strongly about sticking with it, then it is not unreasonable to ask that he complete the season and then choose something else in the summer or fall.
There will be days that you will not have any downtime. Make sure to compensate by taking the following day at a slower pace.
Sleep is important. Make sure that your children are getting enough sleep. This will help them keep in pace with their busy lives.