After School Activities

Like most parents I want my children to be able to try a wide range of things and to learn new skills. However time and money are limited as are the energy levels of my children (and myself!). Ironically now I am working more hours there is more money but a lot less time. The children get collected from after school club around 5 which leaves little time for much at all.

The one activity that my children have done weekly in term time is swimming. This is such an important life skill that it is worth the effort and cost. I want them to reach a certain competency at several strokes before stopping (much to my daughter's disgust!). We do also swim for fun at weekends.

My son goes to Little Kickers on a Friday night for some boy time with his grandad. This is a fun way for under 7s to learn football skills. He has just over a year left of being able to attend this club.

Currently neither of my children are in a uniformed organisation. My daughter loved Beavers but wasn't as keen on Cubs as her pack had no other girls in it! She is now waiting for her 10th birthday so she can join Guides. My son can start Beavers after this half term and I hope he enjoys it.

For Christmas my daughter was given a small size keyboard. Now she isn't in Cubs she has been allowed to have keyboard lessons at school. It does mean she will have to ask for money for her birthday instead of other gifts.

Tonight both children started a 5 week martial arts taster. They mostly seemed to enjoy it. Hopefully it will instil a bit more listening and obedience as well as useful self defence skills. Typically this is the same night as Beavers so there may be a conflict if they want to carry on.

So it is a bit manic at the moment and we all get a bit tired at the start of term. Hopefully we will get into the routines and it will get easier as things settle down. In future they will probably settle on one or two things each and no more! At least they are experiencing a wide variety of things and meeting lots of new faces