How to Choose Extracurricular Activities

The years from preschool through high school can seem like a blur of activity, with some academic stuff squeezed in here and there. Here are some tips to help frazzled parents and kids find a healthy balance among the many choices.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Art And Craft Supplies
• Musical Instruments
• Palm Handheld Organizers
• Bulletin Boards
• Calendars
• Personal Organizers
• Athletic Equipment

1. Remember that they're called extracurricular activities because they're extra. Your child's No. 1 priority must be schoolwork, so don't hesitate to make continued participation in sports or clubs contingent on maintaining a minimum standard of academic performance.

2. Sit down with your child and review her desired activities at the start of each new semester. Decide how much she can reasonably handle, and make the hard choices.

3. Make sure you and your child are aware of exactly how much time must be committed to a chosen activity. Participation in a high school varsity sport, for example, can involve a great deal more time than just after-school practice. Will there be games on the weekends? How far will your child have to travel to away games and how often? When does the sport's season begin and end?

4. Try to encourage your child to strike a balance between individual and group activities. Piano, tennis and printmaking are great, but rather solitary. Perhaps your child's interest in art could be developed through creating scenery for the drama club's spring production of "Oklahoma!"

5. Be sure your child understands that joining a club or team means making a commitment to fellow members and that you expect your child to fulfill that commitment. Barring exceptional circumstances, "it's boring" will not excuse him from sticking out the semester in Scouts.

6. No outside activities can be just as unhealthy as too many. If your child tends to be a loner, you might want to take the lead and investigate what teams or clubs exist in your area that jibe with your child's interests.

7. Older children, especially teens, sometimes shortchange family in favor of constant peer activities. Don't let your teen's extracurricular commitments override family dinners, special weekend plans or other important family time.

Tips & Warnings

• If your child is a reluctant joiner, find out what activities his friends are involved in. With some children, who is more important than what.
• For the most part, after-school activities, even if offered by and at the school, are not considered the same as in-school activities. Especially with younger children, check to be sure there is adequate adult supervision for any teams or clubs in which your child participates.

Who Can Help:

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on 2/22/2006 Try to gear your high schooler to a service activity. Almost all colleges and scholarships will want to see evidence of community service during high school. Beyond the altruistic reasons, community service often provides work experience and can build work related skills, all valuable when writing a first resume for a first job.

on 11/22/2005 After seeing parents rushing their children from one activity to another and not being able to sit down together for dinner, my family decided that one extracurricular activity per child per year was enough. We enjoy our family time together.

on 11/22/2005 Try to respect your kids' interests as much as possible. If you think your son should play football but he prefers drama, you're probably not going to change his natural preferences. Let kids enjoy whatever they're drawn to.