How late in the day are your kids' activities?

[ADisneyQueen]

DD8 just joined cheerleading which is twice a week until almost 8. She also has gymnastics once a week until 7:45. Three nights in a row of this and she was really tired and cranky. She goes to bed at 8:30( sometimes falls asleep later), but wakes up around 6:30 b/c she hears my older one getting ready for middle school.
Do you put a limit on how late they can do an activity? I could put her into the lower level for cheering which is over at 6:30, but she made it into the 2nd level and I hate to dissappoint her.

 

[princessmom29]

We have cheer Mon and Tues from 6-7 and dance Wed 3:45-4:45 and thurs. 5:45-7:45. My DD is 5 and usually goes to bed at 8:00. She gets up at 5:30 b/c I have to be at school at 7:15. We haven't had a problem yet, but DD is a child that has never required as much sleep as others her age. She goes to be on time, and gets up without a problem. I have not seen a change in her behavior, but if I do I will be limiting her activities.

 

[rodeo65]

We have to worry more about DS8 and his bedtime than DD7. I enforce an 8pm bedtime for both but she is up about 6am on her own while I have to drag him up at 6:45. Her latest activity is dance until 7:30 which gives just enough time for driving home and bath before 8pm. DS is scheduled to begin karate next month - DH is managing that so I'm not sure how late it goes but it is a minimum two, preferably three night commitment. We're leaving it until the end of October when track finishes since he already stays two nights for that.

I hope they both find the one thing they love soon. I don't want to keep up with the three or so activities that they each have going on right now. DD wants karate too. NOT enough time for all of this.

 

[dreamer17555]

Cat is 7, her week looks like this:

Mon- Dance 3:30 to 7:00 (45 Min Break), Home by 7:30
Tues- Dance 3:30 to 7:30, (No break) Dinner in Car Home 8:00
Weds- Dance 3:30 to 5:30, Home by 6
Thurs- Private Tumbling 3:45- 4:15, Girl Scouts 7:00 to 8:00 Home by 8:45
Friday- Dance 3:30 to 5:30, Private Dance 6:30- 7:00

She does a lot of her homework on the weekends or in the car to and from activites, she is in bed by 9 and up by 5:30 (her bus comes at 6:30) and she is not allowed to be cranky or we start cutting back on her dance.

Its not too much for her but for a lot of kids it would be.

Has you DD ever done these activites before? If not there is a curve to getting herself used to them, a month or two tops. If she is still cranky and tired it is time to cut back.

-Becca

 

[cogero]

right now our latest activities are 7:30 and that is twice a week. My daughter goes to bed at 9pm so far it hasn't been a problem. We have 2 quiet days per week. on Wednesdays and Fridays and I try to have her rest before her activities start and we are doing well

 

[Aneille]

I like my kids to be up in bed at 7:30 so that they can fall asleep near 8pm. But their bedtime is usually 8pm. They can sleep until 8am if they need to but are usually up on their own around 7:30.

Their activities are usually over by 7:30 during the week, most nights we are back by 7pm.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd8's latest activity ends at 7:45, and ds11 just had a bball game during the week that ended close to 10. The older they are, the later it gets.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Yes, I guess in a month or so things will get easier and we'll get used to the routine. This is only her 11th day of school so far. Getting up early and going to school all day is hard for kids after a summer of being free. She usually watches some TV, plays and has dinner before the activities.

She has done activities before. Last year she had the same gymnastics and then on other nights one hour of dance and another night of girl scouts.

I hope we can figure out if the level 2 cheer time is good for her before we have to order the expensive uniform.

 

[calnmace]

My daughter cheers 6-8 on Tuesday nights and its been fine for us thank goodness. She is 9, and my other daughter is 4 and cheers 6-7:30pm. It's their only activity right now thank goodness, last year we also juggled dance and horseback riding. YIKES! That was hard....

 

[Britgirlus]

DS6 plays soccer, but fortunately at the moment all his games are on Saturdays - he has practice on Monday nights at 6pm for about an hour. During the summer he had games on a Tuesday evening, usually until about 6.45pm. He starts Cub Scouts this evening, which is from 6.30pm-7.30pm. His bedtime is 7.30pm, so it'll be interesting to see how he does. Since starting 1st grade a month ago, he has been sleeping almost 12 hours, so I hope the later night doesn't mess with him too much

 

[ADisneyQueen]

calnmace-they want my daughter to be a flyer on the squad, do you think this is safe? The squad does only easy stunts, not like some that I have seen on TV. I don't know much about cheering. She wants to do it, but I have a fear of heights! I don't know how I could watch it.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

DS11 has soccer practice 2 nights a week until 6:30. Last year his team practiced until 7:00 p.m. and I didn't like it. By the time we got home, made and ate dinner and finished up homework, it was getting late and we felt like the whole evening was rushed. I like this year's schedule much better. Games are only on Saturdays which makes it even easier. I used to dread baseball season when we had up to 2 weekday games that went until 7:30. I like my evening time to be relaxed. He decided that he won't be playing baseball this coming spring because he wants to focus on the school musical. He's already practicing for his audition and it's not until January!

 

[LWatson]

Thankfully our Coach just stepped up and said something to the league and got our practice time changed!!!

My 3yr old had soccer practice at 6:45pm - 7:45pm. Coach cut it short on tuesday and we left at 7:20, but bedtime for us is 7:30pm (our kids are 3 & 1.5). We now start at 6pm and will be home by 7:30. A lot of parents had said the same thing...it was past bedtime when they got home.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

DD9 is on a dance team and her schedule is:
Monday- 6:15 to 9:00
Tuesday-6:45 to 9:00
Wed- 4:15 to 5:00 YAH!!
Thurs- 4:15 to 5:30 then 7 to 8
She's had 9pm nights before, but not 2 in a row. So far so good...I'm only half joking when I say that I'm making her brush her teeth in the car and sleep in her leotard and tights I'm driving them to school instead of riding the bus because that gives them an extra 25 minutes of sleep. She's in the gifted program at school and as long as she keeps up with her homework and gets up in the morning, we're fine with it.....it's better than sitting in front of the tv.

DS7 does Scouts once a week and Karate twice...just got his orange belt last night YAH!....but it's all 6 to 7...so no problems with him.

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

P.S. sorry this is so long and if you don't feel like reading my babble its okay.

Okay I don't feel like such a bad momma anymore.

Juliette has classes three nights a week right now. On monday we do cheer from 4.30 to 6.30. tuesdays we are off. wed we have Private stretching at cheer from 4.30 to 5, pre ballet from 5.30 to 6.30 and she was just chosen for the elite team which now means 6.30-8. On thursdays we are super booked she has three different dance classes that span from 4.30-8.30. She also does competition dance so we do private classes for those but they are no set time or day of the week just a minimum of 1hr per week and between classes on thurs. She's just turned 9 tuesday and for her lower elem days I wasn't so concerned b/c she is a straight a student but I will admit that I was worried this year when she moved to the upper elem but all has worked out well. On fri she has gifted/challenge all day so she does her tests on thur but they do their math and language tests on tues on the next week so it hasn't interferred w/ her grades. My bedtime policy is in bed at 9 and she has 30 mins of downtime before it is lights out so we read or watch a tv show. We get up between 6 and 6.30 every morning b/c the bus comes for 7.10 so far we haven't had any trouble.

I think you just need to keep an eye on how she is doing at the particular activities is she getting to a point where she feels burnt out give her a break and let her make the decision if she thinks its something she wants to continue. Juliette has been doing cheer for going on three years now the first year I made the decision to put her in and she was okay w/ it but didn't really want to go back until she found out she was moving up to another class. By the end of last year she didn't even want to go anymore but since it was almost over she finished out the year and we weren't going back and over the summer she decided she want to go back b/c all of her hard work at cheer was paying off and helping her even more w/ her dance. We are giving it another go this and we will see how she handles it. Sometimes I don't know how they do it but they will let you know for sure when they can't and don't want to do. Last year she did the reg cheer group and dance two nights a week on thurs we had the same schedule but she had no real break between her classes which are from 4.30 to 8.30 this year she chose not to do hip hop so she has a 1hr break between classes that night. The 7.30 class, which is contemporary, is mostly made up of high school girls but since she is on the competition team she is able to participate and she loves it so much that she is the only little girl in the class.

the cheer teachers want juliette to be a flyer b/c she is small enough to do it but she keeps telling them she is afraid. After our last comp in panama and she rode on the sling shot they told her she couldn't use that excuse anymore. She is the girliest tomboy you will ever meet so it is funny to me that she is scared to be a flyer but she loves the most extreme rides.

 

[JUJU814]

We have cheer Mon and Tues from 6-7 and dance Wed 3:45-4:45 and thurs. 5:45-7:45. My DD is 5 and usually goes to bed at 8:00. She gets up at 5:30 b/c I have to be at school at 7:15. We haven't had a problem yet, but DD is a child that has never required as much sleep as others her age. She goes to be on time, and gets up without a problem. I have not seen a change in her behavior, but if I do I will be limiting her activities.

Wow..this goes to show you how different one child is to the next. My dd is 5 and that schedule would totally do her in! She is exhausted at the dinner table every day..full day kindergarten 8:15-3. Wednesdays she has dance from 3:30-4:30 and piano in our home from 5:30-6. Saturday mornings is gymnastics. That is all she can handle. I was really afraid of her having an activity from 5:30-6 thinking she would be too tired.

Maybe it's all I can handle too.

My children need lots of down time to play with their toys and have playdates. Ds, 7, has piano on Wednesday and gymnastics on Friday.

I guess in answer to the question, I'm in the minority, but it's such an individual thing...at my kids ages, 5 and 7, I wouldn't have anything later than 6pm for an activity. My son has OT on Monday's from 6-7 and that's really tough for us..however, it is a 45 minute drive each way.

I'm just blown away looking at all these schedules. Things sure have changed a lot over the years.

 

[princessmom29]

Wow..this goes to show you how different one child is to the next. My dd is 5 and that schedule would totally do her in! She is exhausted at the dinner table every day..full day kindergarten 8:15-3. Wednesdays she has dance from 3:30-4:30 and piano in our home from 5:30-6. Saturday mornings is gymnastics. That is all she can handle. I was really afraid of her having an activity from 5:30-6 thinking she would be too tired.

Maybe it's all I can handle too.

My children need lots of down time to play with their toys and have playdates. Ds, 7, has piano on Wednesday and gymnastics on Friday.

I guess in answer to the question, I'm in the minority, but it's such an individual thing...at my kids ages, 5 and 7, I wouldn't have anything later than 6pm for an activity. My son has OT on Monday's from 6-7 and that's really tough for us..however, it is a 45 minute drive each way.

I'm just blown away looking at all these schedules. Things sure have changed a lot over the years.

Yea, it is really interesting how different kids are. My DD is one that has never really liked "down time" It was always "what are we doing next? I'm bored. Lets go do something" She loves doing cheer and dance, and I ask her at least once a week if she is still enjoying them, does she want to continue, or something along those lines. The day she tells me she wants to quit, we are done, but until then we will keep doing it as long as it doesn't interfere with grades, sleep, or family. I only have the one DD though, so I think that makes a difference. There is no one at home to play with.

 

[dyna]

My friends just wait till high school I had 1 in marching band mon they was off, tues an thurs practice from 6pm- 9pm, marched at every home football game if away game then practice from 6-10 pm competions every SAT from the 1st week of school till the end of Oct they usually had to be on the bus by 6:30 or 7am an did not return till at least midnight sometimes later.

My youngest played volleyball, basketball an softball it was rare she was home before 11pm then still usually had to eat shower an do homework she managed to graduate with honors. Oh an she did all this with chronic fatique syndrome, fribromyalsia, an a few other illnesses.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Wow - some of these schedules would blow me away as an adult!

DS(8)'s latest night is a monthly Pack meeting for Cub Scouts that can sometimes run past 8:00, but the Den meetings and CCD are both on the weekends. Choir practice is once a week after school, but over by 5:15. He wants to do karate, so we'll see how late that one is.

 

[allyphoe]

Wow - some of these schedules would blow me away as an adult!

Just what I was thinking!

DD6 does dance from 5:30 to 6:30 on Mondays - and actually originally wanted to switch to the Wednesday class, because an extra-long day on Monday was too much for her. She also does the Children's Nutcracker, which is an hour or two most Saturdays during the fall.

Bedtime at our house is usually around 8pm, and we get up around 7:30. If bedtime is much later, DD is a bear to get up. She's a kid who needs her sleep, and her unstructured down time.