Extracurricular Activities for Children
The extracurricular options available for children can at times seem to leave no room for eating, sleeping, or studying. Therefore, helping your child find the right activities to pursue is only one part of the puzzle. While it is important for children to be active and explore activities that interest them, there still must be time left for all of the child’s other priorities.
The following offers some advice for not only finding the right activity for your child, but also for finding ways to balance your child’s extracurricular fun with academic responsibilities.
Start by Talking with Your Child About Things that Interest Them
Once you have some ideas in hand, do some research and find which extracurricular activities fit your child’s interests and are available. Make a note of when and how often the activities take place, any associated costs, the overall time commitments needed, and the adults in charge of supervising them.
Next, Take Some Time to Evaluate Each Option and Present Two or Three to Your Child
They should reflect not only your child’s interests, but also his or her attention span. If your child is easily bored, consider several short activities instead of ones that require a longer commitment.
Even with as few as two or three options, your child may still want to do too many activities within his or her available free time. This is when you’ll need to find the right balance between afterschool activities and the child’s other responsibilities, like homework. The general rule of thumb is to schedule no more than two activities at a time, but in considering this it is important to consider the number of times the child will be doing these activities each week. A single activity might require so much time that it does not leave room for any other ones.
With the Activities Finalized, You’ll Need to Set and Stick to a Schedule
Make sure the schedule helps keep your child on the right track with the right priorities in mind. For starters, establish a designated study time each day to ensure schoolwork remains the child’s main focus. Your child should also have a strict bedtime to make sure they are well rested and ready for school each day. If the extracurricular activities start pushing bedtime back, it’s time to readjust the schedule and consider cutting back on the activities.
Also be sure not to let your child’s new activities affect family time. Eating together as a family at least three times a week needs to be set as a priority. Finally, make sure your child has some free time aside from all of his or her extracurricular and academic activities. Children, like all of us, need this downtime.
While it can be a challenge to juggle your child’s schedule to allow room for extracurricular activities, it’s still important that the child is involved in some form of outside activity. It’s a valuable part of a child’s social development to interact with others. So, the effort you put forth to help your child take part in extracurricular activities will pay off in the long run as you help your child enjoy a healthy, active, and well-balanced life.
