Extra curriculur activities

[Aphrodite]

ODS has done karate for a year and has earned his Red belt. Towards the end of the summer term he got quite upset about going and was tearful one day so I decided he needed a break for a few weeks. Last week he asked to go back so we did. Well it's karate day again today and he is complaining about going. It's at 4.30 after school and I think once he gets in he wants to chill and doesn't Like the idea of going out again.

I don't know whether I should encourage/insist he goes or just let him stop. I've bought him.a karate uniform and paid for the exams etc. It seems a shame for him to give up now.

However in parents evening his teacher said he likes team games and is really competitive. J keeps asking to do football. I wonder if we should quit karate and let him do that? How do you handle it of your child doesn't want to do a sport? It's hard because on the one hand I don't want to over burden him as he's only 5, but then I dont want him to think you should just quit something every time you don't like it or its hard. Wwyd?

 

[jd83]

I think it depends on whether he truly doesn't like the sport, or if he is just having a few bad days where he's really tired after school. If my son really, truly didn't like a sport, I would allow him to quit. The point of him doing it is to enjoy it and make friends, so I wouldn't make him do it if that was continually not happening every time he went. If it was just a few bad days where he was tired and whiny, though, we'd probably just suck it up and keep at it since he does seem to like it or he wouldn't have asked you to put him back in to begin with.

 

[lau86]

It's really hard as it's often quite difficult to catch up once you miss a significant amount of time. It doesn't sound like he likes karate and would prefer football (which tbh I imagine is more fun for most little boys)

 

[caz_hills]

We said to our five year old that once we sign up for the term he has to complete it. So he does Spanish club after school on Monday a and Tuesday's football with school. Saturday's he has football club (which his dad plays for the adult team) then swimming. He doesn't really like swimming but I want him to learn the skill and Jen is nearly there! So once he can swim and is confident then we can drop the lessons of he doesn't want them.

But my husband was the one who said he should continue if we have committed. I agree as if he wants something enough for us to pay for the term then he should see it through.

Could you do that - say to him can he keep going until the end of term then re assess?
My son would do every sport every night if we let him! He wants to do martial arts and basketball but as he is young we have said he has enough on currently. But he too is fickle and changes his mind all the time! I'd keep going on current plans unless it really upsets him. Saying that our son hated swimming but that was only because they pushed him and he was nervous but soon got over it and now is doing well.

 

[OmarsMum]

I just let mine try what he wants & to stick to what he likes, we did karate for 2 years before he asked to quit, he tried piano, swimming, drawing, football, basketball, fitness & mental math.

Now he's almost 7, he knows what he really likes, he loves basketball & fitness and he asked us recently to go back to piano lessons, but I told him clearly that he should practice again at home and play confidently all the covered notes before going back to classes.

He still goes to swimming but only to learn more skills & with a private coach.

We always encourage him to try finish the course & do the assessment before quitting. Trying several classes helped him socially & he's now more confident to try new things.

ETA: we also ask him for his reasons for quitting

Karate: he doesn't see the point of an adult watching two children fighting loool
Football: he prefers basket ball as he's better with controlling the ball with his hands
Mental math: no use of using the abacus, we have calculators for big numbers, normal math worksheets are more interesting.

 

[Vickie]

I'm also one that if we've paid for it after they've asked to be in it then they complete the class. If they no longer want to continue after that I am completely okay with it but we don' really have a lot of money to lose haha. My daughter is 8 and is very involved in dance now. But when she was younger she had days of not wanting to attend her ballet class. We explained to her it was a commitment and it had to be seen through but if she didn't want to continue after the term that was okay. She always wanted to continue after the recital though! And we're now on 5 years of ballet and she's also in acro and jazz and has tried out for a (small) role in the Nutcracker ballet (and got it so she dances every day Wednesday through Sunday! )!!!!

 

[jd83]

I also think you should finish the classes you paid for, I do typically go by that rule too. I have no problem at all with them saying they are done with a sport once the season is over, though. I think of all the things we've tried, the only time we ever quit before a season was over was tball with my now 4 yr old. It was when he was 3, and he literally laid on the grass screaming his head off the entire time two sessions in a row, so I decided I was not putting myself through that again. LOL. Not liking it, and doing what he did are 2 different things. That was torturing BOTH of us trying to get through that, and it was absolutely not worth it.