Classes/activities for children

Tea-and-Cake_3

What activities/classes do your children do and how much do you pay for them?

My eldest does dancing and this costs £30 per month + the cost of the kit. The problem is she wants swimming lessons and we can't afford both so she'll have to choose one or the other which I feel bad about. Also we're about to have our third and I can't see how we will afford to have 3 children doing one activity each per week + its associated costs. All of my dd's friends seem to have at least 2 classes per week and I feel like she will be missing out as time goes on.

Does anyone else have this dilema?

Spendless

Very few since 12yo packed in Scouts. He does chess club at lunch-time which is free.

9yo goes to weekly swimming lessons which are I think £45 per 10 week block of 1/2 hr lessons and a free weekly Church group. Oh, just remembered she also does a weekly afterschool Art & crafts club which is £2 for an hour.

How old is child and can she already swim? She will have swimming lessons via school at some point during Primary school.

Gigervamp

My children are grown up now, but when they were younger, only my daughter did an activity (dance classes). My sons just liked to play out with their friends and have never mentioned feeling left out because they didn't do something like cubs.

kingfisherblue

My daughter loved Brownies so much that she beccame a Brownie Guider.

My sons have both been through Beavers and Cubs, but didn't enjoy Scouts as much so they are no longer in Scouting.

My eldest son, who is disabled, attends an afterschool singing club, which is free.

My younger son attends an afterschool Airfix modelling club, which is £1.50 a week. He also goes to a lunchtime club where the pupils play boardgames and uno. This is free.

Both go to a deaf youth club. My older son, who is 14, now wears hearing aids in both ears, but this is recent. My younger son (12) dopesn't have any hearing difficulties. They were invited to go about three years ago by a friend. It costs £1 each, plus tuck (about 50p max), and some weeks they go bowling, cinema, etc.

The youngest also goes to Young Carers, which is free.

As a family, we are members of a local group for families with a disabled child. We pay £10 a month subs, and have a variety of trips including day trips, soft play, cinema, sports, etc. Some of these incur an additional cost but others are funded. We apply for funding and also self generate income through subs and bag packing.

Groups run by volunteers, rather than businesses, tend to be much cheaper. I run Brownies and Rainbows and we charge £1.60 a week - Brownies meet for 1.5 hours and Rainbows for 1 hour.

milliebear00001

Girl (8) does rock climbing, tennis and Brownies. Boy (5) does nothing by his own choice!

Alleycat

Our 7 year old DD does swimming lessons which cost £95 per term and choir which is run by the council and is free. Some of her friends do loads more but then she is at after school club 2 evenings a week as I work so I think she would be too tired.

Thinking of putting her name down for brownies/Scouts/Woodcraft next academic year though as she's expressed an interest and I think she would really enjoy it. Just not sure on the logistics or my energy levels at the moment though!

mildred1978

My son (aged 2) does a music class (£6.50), swims once a week (£3 for dad, LO goes free), soft play once a week (variable but £5 usually covers it) and a welsh medium playgroup (£2). We also go to the park twice a week (when it's dry) and out for walks/bike rides.

Spendless

A woman whose daughter was in the same weekly swimming class as mine did take her out of class in order to pay for an additional dance class she wanted to do. She gave her the choice of swimming lessons or ballet (I think it was). The mum told me how much she was spending on weekly activities for her 2 and it was around £50 per week, which is why when her DD asked to do another class she got told she had to choose. I can't say I've ever spent that much on activities for mine per week. Faced with the same dilemma, I would have chosen swimming till my daughter was a more competant swimmer as that is the potential life saver. I might have considered differently if my DD was about to start swimming with school, though hindsight would tell me to make sure they started first before packing the paid for lessons in as Miss S seems to do very little at her school session and am glad I've continued with her paid class.

cottonhead

My little one has 2 activities - swimming and dance. Personally I think 2 is enough. I like to spend some time doing things together and feel that kids need to have free time in order to learn how to occupy themselves etc. Its also hard to fit in home work on the days she does activities and she gets really tired so anymore and I think it would have a negative impact.

skintchick

My DD is 3 next month and currently does not go to pre school. She does four classes - swimming, music group, ballet and yoga.

Janepig

DD is 9 and does gymnastics 3 times a week, £60 per term; after school sports club on a Tuesday, free; and rugby in season, about £30 for the season I think, training Friday, match Sunday, with £1 for the monthly indoor training session. She's previously done swimming and cheerleading. She gave up the swimming because she was rubbish at it, and she had to give up the cheerleading when the squad disbanded. She does free flute lessons in school and we've arranged for her to have afew one to one lessons in the holidays which she is very keen for, £12 per half hour. She's also really good at running which she does alot of with the school, and is possibly something to look at developing but it's finding the time, because I'm also keen for her to just spend time kicking back doing nothing. I'm not pushy (honest!) it's just that she loves doing sports and wants to get involved with everything.

DS is 6 and does football, training Friday, match Sunday, £2 per week subs, and he has swimming lessons once a week, which I think is about £4 per lesson. Can't see it lasting too much longer because he's a nightmare and doesn't listen to the teacher. He enjoys splashing about in the pool too much! He also tags along to DD's Saturday gymnastics session occasionally, which is £4, but that's not often as his behaviour there can also be a bit wild!

Jx