What sport does your kid/kids practice? (and for how long?)

My kids play soccer during the summer. They each have 1 game and sometimes practices.

 

My daughter does competitive cheer which is year round and competitive dance. She gets about two months a year off, summer and winter. But yeah, it worries me too that she's overdoing it. She LOVES them both so much though she would be devastated if we stopped!!! My middle son does a few sports a year but always lots of time off in between. They are going to switch it up this summer and do some swim lessons and not too much else. A break is good for mom and dad too

 

We had a pretty full extra curricular schedule and my kids got really burned out. So we took a break from a lot of things and it has been nice... for ALL of us. Mainly me - the taxi mom! That being said, I am looking for a few things to keep them busy and active this summer. I feel kind of lost b/c we usually spend our summers in the country - doing garden/farm things. There isn't a big garden to tend to this year, so we have more free time than usual.

All of that to say... I am no help at all!

 

My oldest decided last year that he didn't like any of the sports that he'd tried (soccer, baseball and football) so we told him that he didn't have to sign up again. Instead he opted for swim classes and he loved that. But, it's expensive and the class filled up before we got him signed up for this session. I'm thinking we'll take the summer off for that too.

My youngest has played soccer for three years now. He play at age 5, 6 and now 7. He LOVES soccer, but it's only two games a week and sometimes they have one 30-45 minutes practice. Soccer ended a few weeks ago and He's also doing baseball right too. That is twice a week. That is far less strenuous in my opinion. Lots of sitting around waiting for your turn to bat and then not too much action in the field either. He's enjoying it, but also is starting to ask how many games are left. Both of my boys enjoy being at home a lot and tend to grumble if they are away from home for too many evenings in a row. That's fine with me too, I hate the constant running around. I was really happy when the oldest decided to stop doing sports because then we didn't have double the games to go to. Because then, even if one kid didn't have a game, they likely would end up watching the other kids games.

I know I'm in the minority with most of my friends, but I think we push our kids too hard into sports these days. It's not for everyone and they can always play later. They need time to be kids too.

 

I think family time and having time to just play and be a kid is really important, so we have a one activity rule. We let her pick one thing to do at a time. We started with soccer, which she HATED and switched to dance. She did ballet last year, which she was ok about but didn't love, and acrobat this year, which is loved doing the cartwheels and stuff, but she doesn't like recitals. Last fall, we realized all of her friends were doing cheer, so this fall she's going to be doing cheer and she's doing a tumbling class one night a week for summer. After cheer ends, we'll probably go back for more tumbling, because she really loves that.

 

I guess it really depends on how strenuous her activities are, kwim? I don't really know what kind of a toll ice skating takes on the body - it doesn't seem like it would be that hard - not like a kid getting tackled in football or getting pitcher's elbow in baseball... but I'm definitely no expert there! LOL

My boys play baseball - winter ball and spring ball. There's a 2 month (or longer) break between each season. With three boys (and now my daughter most likely starting softball in the fall) we're at a baseball event pretty much every day. Multiple times per day. LOL.

 

we do a lot of activities - my kids seem to thrive on it and ask to do even more. they have a lot of fun playing at home (and seem to have plenty of time to do that too - even with the activities .. ) - and i much prefer them doing activities than watching tv (which seems to happen at home after a while ... ) at home, they love roller skating, hula hooping, riding bikes and just playing "family" in the backyard.

our activities for summer/next year are:
1) gymnastics - my oldest is on the competitive team - they meet 2x/week for 3 hours each time (summer) and 2 hrs in the fall. my youngest is pre-team and meets once/week.
2) swim team - one day/week
3) ice skating - 2x/week - my oldest will start competing this fall - skating is both of my girls' favorite activity, with gymnastics a close second
4) tennis - summer = 2x/week, fall = 1x/week

possible: soccer - they are doing it now once/week but i don't think we'll continue in the summer/fall b/c they prefer other activites

no longer doing dance - they both have been doing ballet/tap, but they both prefer gymnastics and ice skating - so we're dropping dance as they move into competitive sports

other activities: russian math classes 1x/week and sewing class 1x/week.

 

my 12 year old does lacrosse all year round. He in obsessed by the sport. He hasn't played in another sport since 2 years ago we put him in football. I used to feel that way too - that kids need a break, that people over do it - until I got there. He thrives when he is kept busy with it several days a week. the weeks he does not play a game or practice in a structured setting - he gets keyed up and ends up making bad choices. he has a concussion from it and hasn't played in 3 weeks. the first 2 weeks were fine just very antsy and he was more goofy than normal. this pass week when he found out he still wasn't healed have been a nightmare. he NEEDs to be kept busy and needs exercise....This year we are going to have him play basketball, but he will still be in at least 3 different leagues - I would rather be running him around all over the place than have him starting trouble or getting into it. Now my 8 year old is a completely different kid - he needs down time and home time or else he gets antsy. He does karate 1 x a week all year and now he is in lacrosse this spring season and begging for it to be over. next year he is going to do basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring in addition to the karate.

 

My girls are both on a team for gymnastics and it is pretty much year around. They suggest we don't take summer off because they lose so much flexibility and strength. They each will do 6 hours a week in the summer, they do about 5 hours the rest of the year, plus their competitions/meets. Sometimes they complain about the hours they have to put into it, but if they are not in it they would just sit and watch tv, because that is their M.O. We do swimming lessons in the summer and I will probably have them try tennis as well at our vacation resort place since it is free!

So - all in all I don't have an answer for you. Maybe ask her Dr. and if you think her body can handle it and she wants to continue, then I'd say it would be fine.

 

She is not in anything yet!

[Well, we took a short 6 week parent-child swim lesson class in March and April, but that doesn't really count.]

She will be 4 in August and going to preschool 3 mornings a week. I talked to her about trying a sport, but she said she did not want to try ANY! Ha. She does want to go to 'ballerina class,' so I will sign her up for that this fall and see how it goes.

If she is anything like me (and she is already an awful lot like me!), physical coordination will not be her strong suit, so I will gently encourage her, if she does not express an interest otherwise, towards sports like golf or softball where it is not full-on exertion or full-on physical contact the entire time.

She did like swimming (and that would be a good long term choice if she ends up with the voluptuous body + bosomness that I possess!), but is not ready emotionally to graduate to the next level of classes where she would be 'alone' (with her teacher and the other kids, but not with me) in the water.

As she does get older, I think the general rule will be 1-2 activities depending on how much time they take + youth group/other church activity.

 

LeeAndra, I felt the same way about my daughters coordination lol, but she has overcome my extreme clumsiness genes and is turning into a talented dancer and cheerleader. I take NO credit for it whatsoever! I do take credit, however, for the FOUR head and facial injuries incurred by my poor 3 year old this week! He is just like his mama, poor boy!!!

 

ha - yes, we stay busy

here's a link to the russian math website -- http://www.russianschool.com - they have a lot of locations in MA, but also a few in other states (one in naperville - you are in IL, right? ) ... it's basically some advanced math/math enrichment classes. my daughter is just finishing up kindergarten, so it's nothing too crazy at this level, but the stuff she is doing in kindy right now (last month of school) is what they did in russian math back in october, so it definitely moves more quickly than normal school.

 

My son plays soccer in the summer (2 games/week and 1 practice/week all 1 hour long) and hockey (2 hours/week) and basketball (1 hour/week) in the winter.
My youngest daughter play soccer (2 hours/week) in the summer and basketball (1 hour/week) in the winter
My older daughter just plays basketball in the winter - it's the only sport she wants to play
Our soccer league takes a summer break when the kids are out of school...so they don't play any sports during that time, except for a camp here or there.

While it is important to keep young kids active, it is also important that they have time to recover. Playing different sports at different times is good because you don't use the same movement patterns and will have a decreased tendency to "overwork" certain parts of the body. That being said...there are some motions that need to be limited during the season (ie. amount of pitches thrown in little league) because those structures can wear out much quicker than others. While I am not quite sure what stresses are being placed on the body during ice skating, it may be a good time to decrease her ice time and give her body time to recover. Plus, she may really miss it and when it's time to start up again, be really gung ho about it!!