Am I the only one who doesn’t sign my girls up for dance classes/extra curricular activities?

[z_alan_bridges]

@anonymous9299 My daughter is now 19 and she started dancing when she was 3. I signed her up bc I wanted an activity for her to do, and when I suggested it she was all for it. From a motor learning stand point it's a great activity for children. But so are many other sports/activities. The dance mom culture is def toxic, however I never engaged in it. I never socialized or hung out with any of the moms, I never sat in the waiting room for my kid (sat in the car and read a book ) and I actually ended up becoming good friends with the teachers bc of that My best advice for anyone interested in dance is to find a good studio, read reviews and try some classes. My daughter is going into her second year of college where she's studying dance education and business... so while it costs me an insane amount of money all those years all the headaches were worth it

 

[puddintain]

@anonymous9299 I'm a SAHM which is really the only reason right now my kid is signed up for things. I do gymnastics with her (or rather my husband does) because frankly she's a climber anyway and we want her to learn how to fall.

She'll probably do ballet at some point just because I did and generally it has less of the "toxicity" that some other forms of dance do.

 

[farmchick]

@anonymous9299 My daughter is starting pre k in the fall, she’s tried gymnastics, soccer, and this past year she did dance. She has loved it, and I grew up in dance so that made me happy. I don’t think makeup got recitals is mandatory … at least not for 4 year olds lol. I do like to keep our weekends open, so unless she really wants to try something, I let her. Luckily most sports are like a 6 week program or just by the month, so if we decide it’s not for us, we aren’t committed to a whole year or something.

 

[marke2]

@anonymous9299 My oldest is 10, and started ballet at the beginning of this school year for the first time (she was 9). She's the first one that we've signed up for a formal extra curricular activity.

We've done many free workshops at the public library over the years. If any of my kids kept going with one of those, I'd probably look around for lessons.

 

[purposedgrace]

@anonymous9299 My youngest was signed up for martial arts at 4 because he BEGGED to do it. His older brothers and dad are black belts and go 2 times per week. So when the school master said it was okay for the youngest to begin, he and I both started. It's been about 18 months now and we often go 3-4 times per week because everyone loves it that much and just won't shut up about going . He even won a gold and a silver at the world tournament last year as the youngest one participating in his age bracket too. So no, you're not lazy. My kid begged. The older two didn't start until 8 and 6 because I pushed off organized extracurriculars as long as I possibly could. So... Yeah. Now we're ultra busy with it, but not at 3 and 5, oh my goodness. Martial arts is also the only thing we do sports-wise. Although my oldest is begging to go to a soccer camp this summer...