Choosing the Right Extracurricular Activity for Your Child

Yesterday, we talked about the upcoming school year, and today we’re doing the same! As the school year approaches, tons of questions flood our minds, and as parents, we just want to do what’s best for our child, including choosing the right sport or club for them.

So how do you choose?

I always think it’s important that when your child is old enough to start making independent decisions, they should be able to choose the type of activities they would like to do. But, if your child is around eight or younger, and may need some guidance on extracurricular activities they would like to do, how do you pick?

Here are our top three tips:

1. Think about your child’s strengths

What is your child good at? Are they confident, and great at talking? Maybe acting lessons might be their thing. Or are they super competitive and full of energy? Consider sports and see which one they like the best. You know your child the best, so see what activities they could participate in that play to their strengths and help them find the activity that is a good fit! Help them build on the traits that they already have and help strengthen them. If they have a natural talent for music, put them in vocal lessons or piano class.

2. Think about your child’s weakness

While we always want to see our children succeed, we also need to be realistic and realize sometimes they need an extra nudge to get there. No matter how great of a person they are, just like anyone, there is room for improvement. If your child is on the shy side, put them in something that will get them out of their comfort zone. Let’s say they have a hard time working with others, put them in a team sport to help them to learn how to work collaboratively.

3. Don’t be afraid to be wrong!

This is a big one! Let’s say you thought your child would love figure skating because they like rollerblading. After a few lessons, they tell you that they don’t like it. That’s perfectly fine! Sometimes you have to go through a period or trial and error to figure out what it is that your child will like and it’s useful for both of you because you can see what might work and what doesn’t. There is no exact science to this, so just be open to trying new activities and being wrong.

Back To School Shopping - What’s That?

The countdown is on for the 2022 to 2023 school year. The past few school years have been a hectic one to say the least. With Covid, virtual learning, and hybrid learning, students had to learn how to adjust so many things and I think that the confirmation of a back-to-school in person this year is going to get them more excited than ever. Kids think about so many things when going back to school, like what friends they'll make this year, and what classes they will be taking but when it comes to back-to-school shopping, that’s usually parent territory. So what is back-to-school shopping exactly?

Some parents find it as only buying the necessities for the school year. New binders, notebooks, pens, and pencils. While others consider it a time to buy new clothes, new sneakers, and new backpacks, so when it comes to back-to-school shopping, where do you draw the line?

Based on your parenting style, you could either buy your child everything in the beginning of the school year or on an as-needed basis, but it’s completely up to you. Deciding what you want to include in back-to-school shopping and what counts as a necessity versus what isn't, is also a personal choice. For example, my sister-in-law considered a few things as necessities when back to school shopping for my nephew. She considered a new phone and iPad back to school shopping. But I saw that more as just general shopping. I didn’t see how it correlated with the school year. What’s the difference between getting a phone before the school year or in the summer? Her reasoning was she would need to keep in contact with my nephew at school and it was a perfect back-to-school item so she included that her back-to-school budget.

Growing up, my mom considered back-to-school shopping binders, notebooks and then a backpack. She would also buy us a few new pairs of shoes that she expected to last us throughout the school year. Now, that’s not to say that she didn’t buy us other things throughout the year, but she expected those big purchases to last us until it was time to buy again for the next year.

So there’s no handbook when it comes to back-to-school shopping but it’s important that as the parent you set the budget and you set the expectation. If you’re including a laptop in the back-to-school budget that’s completely fine. But if you think that’s more of a gift that you want to give your child on a holiday or birthday that’s also fine. My advice to you is to just draw out the budget and go over it with your child. We hope that you enjoy your back-to-school shopping let us know in the comments what you get!

At What Age Should Your Child Get a Phone?

Readers, let me tell you the STRESS my niece has me under the other day. So for background, my niece is 8 and my absolutely Angel. I am the youngest of four and she is like the baby sister I never had. I love doing everything with her and we are like two peas in a pod, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t work my last nerve. She has gotten into this habit of FaceTiming me on Friday and Saturday nights at 11pm!

I explained to her that Friday night, I’m tired. I’ve worked a full day and then some and I’m in bed by 10:30. I usually sleep with my phone on DND, but the other night I left it on and she called me, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR times in a row and woke me up. I was livid because I told her that I was tired on Friday’s and I was like what is this 8 year old doing up and on her phone at 11?

I called her back the next day and told her why calling people at 11 is rude but also told her screen time needs to end by 9. So, for all my parents, at what age did you get your child a phone?

I was wondering why in the world did my sister get my niece a phone and she said 1. For safety reasons when she’s out as school or extra curricular activities, 2. So she can FaceTime her friends, and 3. It helps her be more independent. Why I totally get all of these things, when I was 8, I had to use the house phone like everyone else!

In all seriousness, I get that I grew up in a different time period, so getting a phone at 14 was more realistic, but I still thought 8 was pretty young. I think that unless phone time is strictly monitored, it can be a distraction and the phone use can be abused by the child because they don’t know any better. My niece, while studious can get carried away watching YouTube, playing Roblox and FaceTiming me. So there has to be a happy medium. While I would totally want my child to have a phone to keep in touch, I would still want them to experience and enjoy childhood without the pressures and burden of ALWAYS being connected.

So parents, what are some of the reasons you got your child a phone and at what age did you get it? Let me know in the comments!