How many activities does your 4 year old do?

[An_Island_Girl]

Hello,
I have a 4/almost 5 year old DD that wants to do it all! Where do you draw the line of too many activies so I don't overschedule her?

She is in Pre-K 4 afternoons a week, and her "wish list" for fall activities is:
Gymnastics
Mini Cheer/ tumble squad
Figure Skating (Tint Tots learn to skate program)
Swimming
Karate
Rock Climbing (after school class for 3-5 year olds)

I say she should pick 3, but my DH says she should get to experience everything this year, then decide what she likes the best.

If you don't mind me asking, what activities do your 4 year old daughters do?

 

[thegrimdwarf]

Personally, I think she should pick only one or two - and honestly, I'd lean more towards one activity other than school. I mean, she's 4 - she has an entire lifetime of being stretched too thin to look forward to, lol.

I have boys, so since you specifically asked about girls, I'll tell you that my 4 YO niece is in preschool 4 mornings a week, and takes a dance class which meets 2 times/week for 60 minutes.

 

[kldmom2000]

My girls are 5 and 8 now, but when they were 4, they only did one activity and they went to preschool 2 days per week for 2.5 hours at a time. The activity was either swim lessons or Gymnastics @ The Little Gym. The both are very imaginative and enjoyed playing at home with their dolls/dressing up/etc.... and I liked going to the library, children's museum, playground, etc... with them rather than doing structured scheduled activities.

 

[java]

Well my little guys are boys now. But when my daughter was 4 she did 2 activities beyond preschool- she took dance and gymnastics. Then at 5 once k started she picked one. And now that one is Tae Kwon Do- and she also plays soccer so I guess that's 2.

I think your list is way too long. She would be having fun but how would you feel? Driving all over the place. I take it she is your only. I would imagine that would be expensive too. Why not tell her to pick her 2 favorites. Karate is a long commitment. I should know my kids take Tae Kwon Do(I have a black belt son and a senior red belt daugher) My 2 youngest are doing soccer and that's it. They don't need to be over scheduled plus how about just time to play?

From your list I vote Swimming and one other either gymnastics or skating.

 

[robandkelly13]

Our DD is 3 and she goes to preschool 2 days a week, gymnastics 1 day and swim school 2 days. She loves it! Everyday she says she has to go see her friends and they are different children at each activity.

 

[deedeetoo]

When my dd was 4 she did gymnastics for the whole year plus ice skating in the winter, and then swimming in the spring. I think two activities at a time is plenty.

You do realize all these programs cost money too, right? And its not just signing up for the class - many require uniforms or additional equipment.

Also, not only are you going to have to drive her everywhere, but you will need to sit there and wait while she does her thing. How many hours a week do you want to spend sitting on a bench watching dd do something?

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

At 4, my oldest did just preschool, and many play dates.
My middle was doing swimming, no preschool.
My baby was bored but I decided against preschool for her as well so I let her do dance and swimming. I guess it depends on the kid, but three sounds like a lot, especailly with her list. She would be very overtired. I agree with your husband to let her try a variety of things, but not all at once. My younger two daughters still love dance, but only one liked soccer. The other now wants to try softball in the spring when the other plays soccer. The oldest not doesn't do anything but read, draw and play Wii, but she does DDR for an hour a day, so it's ok! Let her try different things for sure, but I think you all will be happier if it a couple things at a time!

 

[laughinplace199]

When our kids were that age, we let them do 1 activity. Now that they're older (9 & 7), they can do two activities, one during the week and one on weekends. Only you know what's right for your family, but just be aware so that you don't overschedule her.

When DD was 4, she had a friend who had an activity every day. By age 6, that kids was totally burned out on activities. She would kick and scream every time she had to go to one of her activities becasue she just wanted to stay home and play.

 

[An_Island_Girl]

Thank you so much... I just showed DH some of your replies, and I think he may actually see my/ your point of view now.

Maybe we will stick with swimming and gymnastics year round as she is on the pre-team, and rotate some of the others for a 12 week session at a time (cheer, figure skating, climbing)? I'm on the fence with Karate, but so many of her schoolmates are in a Monday morning class before school, that I am leaning toward that at least for a trial period to see if she enjoys it too.

She does want to be on the mini-cheer squad this fall (Sat. mornings), as all of the boys in her pre-k class are playing football this year, and she wants to see thier games.

She is our youngest of 3 ( we have a DS22 and a DS21), so my mornings/ days are all open for bringing her to activites and for play dates.

 

[clori]

my dd4 will be going to prek 3 mornings a week (starts next week) and do a dance class 1 hour a week. In the summer she did swimming lessons at the Y which we will now hold off on until May or so. She will take ice skating lessons in the winter. I think that is plenty for her and still leaves her all of her afternoons free. Your list sounds like she will have lots of fun but never have free time if she does it all.

 

[Aliceacc]

I am most definitely counter culture.

But I'm not a big believer in too many activities. My kids tend to love to play on their own-- too much scheduled play starts sounding like work to them.

My 5 year old starts Kindergarten on Wednesday. When the signups start, she'll join kickline. It meets every Monday, right after school, in the gym. Her older sister did it last year and loved it, and Kira has been minicking Julia all year as she practiced.

That's it. Full day Kindergarten and one activity. When she's in first grade, we'll add in Religion one day a week.

The rest of the time she can spend riding her bike or playing with the kids in the neighborhood. She has a wonderful imagination... I always say I can give her a potato and a crayon and she'll be busy for a week.

 

[abdmom]

I have 3 - my dd is 10. At age 4, in addition to preschool she was doing gymnastics, and swimming in the summer. Last year, when she was 9, she was doing swimming, gymnastics, Girl Scouts, flute lessons and figure skating - way too much. I'm a SAHM and I basically spent all my time running her around. This year, we are sticking to one sport plus Girl Scouts.

If she's like my dd, she'll like most everything. Plus, what she's good at isn't necessarily what she likes.

 

[gymjenn2]

my DDis 3.5 and she goes to preschool 3 days a week. i signed her up for swimming lessons this summer and she will continue in the fall. my choice,not hers although she likes it. we have numerous family members with inground pools and my parents have a boat on lake erie so i want the security of knowing she can swim. and she does dance/gymnastics class at little gym. it is a combo class 1 hour long with ballet, tap, and gymnastics.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

The Olympics did us in...DD wants to everything she saw

We let her do 2 year-round activities (ballet/tap and swimming) and one short-termed (skiing). She's done them since she was 2. She would like to add in cheerleading, gymnastics, karate, and soccer at this point. I don't have a huge issue with it other than we are running out of days of the week. She's at school from 8:30-4:30, goes to football practice with DH every afternoon (DH coaches), and then has her own activities. She's pretty busy for a 4 year old!!!

 

[ChristusG]

My DD is 4 and she just started playing soccer a few weeks ago. So she has one practice a week, as well as one game.

However, our situation is a bit different. I'm homeschooling her, so we'll also be attending some homeschool related things. I have her signed up for a Young Literature Class for 2-5 year olds on Tuesday mornings for an hour. And we're also involved in a homeschool group that meets sometimes.

We also have church on Wednesday nights, as well as Sunday mornings. So she's involved in those as well.

She wants to do gymnastics, but like someone mentioned, these things are costly and we dont have the money right now to fork out more for another class.

 

[ajk912]

Holy cow, I would love to have the income to be able to afford to have my kids do all that! That has to be $700 a month in activities for one kid (at LEAST!) for the things you posted if you would do all that..wow!!!

For us, the kids can have one pay-to-go activity at a time. I am not made of money, and that's all I can afford at a time! For my 4 year old..it's preschool..sorry, it's boring, but that's still $200 a month. If we were in a state that had free preschool, she could be in gymnastics or dance, but we don't live in that state!

For my older kids, I let them pick a sport with Upward Sports. Upward is only $100 a season, all uniforms are included, shoes are extra. Every season (fall, winter, spring) they can pick a sport, but they can't be in more than 2 sports per year because I do want them to have at least one trimester where they only focus on school grades until they are getting honor roll. My kids are more "we almost made merit roll" type kids, so I don't want to OD on sports, but I do think they are important though in moderation. Upward does football, soccer (spring and fall), cheerleading, and basketball, so there are still plenty of choices. So I can swing that. Unfortunately, even our elementary school league is $250 a season, it's crazy high when you have 3 kids doing stuff! So that's why we do Upward for now..we are just doing sports for fun, we don't have any scholarship potential in this family, I know this for sure.

 

[adoptionmomma4]

I think your list is pretty long all for one season. However over the course of the year I think she could try them all and let you know what she enjoys the most.

I have 4 kids. My 3.5-year-old DD unfortunately has to be dragged from the field, to the gym and to meetings every night of the week. I have tried her in several things and she is really not interested yet. I think she is burned out from just going with her older siblings. She is the official gym baby at DD 11's all-star gym since she practically leaned to walk there

I always let me kids try different things until the find what is the best fit for them. For instance DD 11 has tried soccer, gymnastics, softball, girl scouts, dance, rec. cheer and all-star cheer. She found a combination of dance, gymnastics and cheer in all-star cheer. She LOVES it. Beware though it is $$$ and very time consuming. She is at the gym a minimum of 15 hours/week. She is trying two teams this year, and it is way too much!

In addition to DD 11, I have a DS 9 and a DS 7,plus my tag along Katie All of my kids are in 2-3 activities per year. Not including our home school group activities and school. It can get overwhelming and I do drive A LOT! But, it is worth it. I often think to myself when I am driving all over town "I am going to be so bored when they are all moved out".

I say let her lead you. Maybe try 1-2 activities per season and pick the ones she truly loves to do.

 

[NY_MOM]

DD will start Kindergarten on Thursday, and she will also be doing dance class on Saturday mornings, tennis or Karate (not sure what day) and I'm looking into piano lessons...So we'll see. Guess it's that time of year again

 

[musclemouse]

Hello,
I have a 4/almost 5 year old DD that wants to do it all! Where do you draw the line of too many activies so I don't overschedule her?

She is in Pre-K 4 afternoons a week, and her "wish list" for fall activities is:
Gymnastics
Mini Cheer/ tumble squad
Figure Skating (Tint Tots learn to skate program)
Swimming
Karate
Rock Climbing (after school class for 3-5 year olds)

I say she should pick 3, but my DH says she should get to experience everything this year, then decide what she likes the best.

If you don't mind me asking, what activities do your 4 year old daughters do?

I hate to tell you what to do. But that does seem like an awful lot. I personally was in figure skating and although I was older it took up a lot of time. But with her being so young I am sure that none of these are too rigorous for her. Karate is pretty easy unless you get her into ATA (Academy of Taekwondo Association) PLEASE DON'T. Basic karate (japanese style) is better and not as rigourous for a little one. Swimming is important IMO so that might be a definate DO. Rock climbing - I don't know. Cheer - maybe when she is a little bit older like middle or jr high? At the same time gymnastics would help with cheer. Although with gymnastics and she really enjoys it I say the earlier the better.

Whatever you decide...Good luck to you!

 

[Miss LD]

We've had this conversation with DS,4.
He's in karate 2 days per week right now. And we've signed him up for 1 day per week gymnastics.
I think it's a little much, to be honest. But, we're kind of riding out the last couple of months of karate and then we'll see.
Our jk program is kind of weird. He has full days Tues/Thurs and alternate fridays so I'm not sure if he'll want Mon/Wed off or not.