Comments on: Sound Off! How Do You Choose the Best Activities for Your Child?

By: lovato999

lovato999 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:20:38 +0000

Soccer,dance,gymnastics, and piano are really good exra curriclar activities. I have a 2 year old girl named Catalina and I definitely want her to do one of those activities when she gets older at least 6 years old.

By: gaia's mommadukes

gaia's mommadukes — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:06:46 +0000

Thanks! We pronounce it guy-uh. It actually means ‘earth’ and its greek. Her first name is Gaia-Raphael. I thought it was feminine without being hokey and I probably won’t have anymore kids but I’ve always like the name Raphael for a boy so we gave it to her. Gaia doesn’t really fit a baby tho so we call her fee.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:42:42 +0000

My son is barely 5 and he’s doing swimming,which he really likes.His dad (we’re together but not married) was raised in this super demanding family and his mom enrolled him in way too many activities which he hated My parents on the contrary never pushed me too hard,I chose gymnastics and ballet myself when I was 6 but got bored of the latter in less than a year.My brother’s hobby is playing the guitar in a band he has with his friends and Minas (my son) is always watching him transfixed so we’ll probably ask him if he wants to do guitar lessons in 2 years or so.After all he’s a child,he needs to have fun and not hate activities.

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:49:38 +0000

I love your daughters name Gaia’s mamadukes! Is it pronounced Guy-uh or Gay-uh? Whats the origin?

By: Bancie1031

Bancie1031 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:17:15 +0000

My daughter is 8 (9 in September) and she has done cheerleading since she was 5, Swimming since 4 and is now doing tumbling and Gymnastics …… and she’s talking about trying soccer.
My opinion is if they express interest let them try it to see if they like it as long as it’s age appropriate.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Our children do activities based on what best suits their personalities and interests. But we also have to take into account the good of the rest of the family. My oldest daughter had to quit horseback riding for the time being, due to our family finances and the fact that I couldn’t take the other kids with me to her lessons. Maybe she’ll want to continue at a later date, maybe not, but right now it just wasn’t feasible for our family as a whole.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:45:36 +0000

My sister puts her kids in EVERYTHING: baseball, soccer, dance, horseback riding lessons, art classes, piano, Kindermusik, guitar lessons, swimming, Boy Scouts and so much more. My kids are starting to get older and all we’ve done is swimming and t-ball. But we talk about how important it is for kids to get these experiences. We feel it’s important because our mother never did it for us. We would have loved the opportunity to just try some of the above mentioned activities but never had the chance. Oh and we never push our kids to join, ever. But the one rule is: if they start something, they have to finish.

By: Brandi

Brandi — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:22:58 +0000

My boys are both in swimming lessons and tball and they enjoy them very much. My older son also goes to the town rec departments day camp on mwf which he loves. Tomorrow they are going to the waterpark and he cannot stop talking about it. I wouldn’t force them to continue in activities they didn’t love though. My mother made me take piano lessons for years and I really resented her because of it.

By: gaia's mommadukes

gaia's mommadukes — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:20:35 +0000

My daughters only 13 months but she’s in baby swim classes and she really likes it, she cries if when we get out the pool and she mimics the instructors movements. Its my plan to keep her in the water because that’s what she likes and its a real skill.

Gaia also seems to be musically inclined so in the next year or the year after we’re definitely getting her involved with piano since we have one in my home. Growing up in my mothers home I had the opportunity to try an array of things and my mom didn’t pressure me into sticking to anything in particular but I had to finish out my commitment. I will do the same thing with my daughter.

By: Jacquie

Jacquie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:59:05 +0000

With our family, it has greatly depended on the child’s temperment. My oldest has never wanted to try new things and I forced her to try a few things but then I realized I was really doing more damage than good. She is almost thirteen now and is in vocal at school and went out for track this year. That was the first time she had ever decided on her own to join something so we were excited about that. Now my youngest who is 6.5 yo wants to join EVERYTHING so we have been trying to let her experience different things and yet keep her from being overloaded by too many activities. So far she has tried dance, gymnastics, Girl Scouts and swimming. Right now for the summer she is in gymnastics and swimming. We discuss with her which she likes best and she gets to chose. She also has a personality where she won’t quit…very tenacious that one! So we haven’t been confronted with her wanting to quit things. For my oldest, we have usually told her she has to try it until the end of the school year (for band) or the end of the season and then she just won’t go out that next season.