After School Activities

[luciana]

What types of after school activities do your children participate in?

I'm curious to hear about the variety of options available and how other parents navigate the decisions around choice, timing, etc. especially with multiple children! Share what your kids enjoy doing outside of class time - sports, arts, music, clubs... anything goes!

 

[joyful]

What types of after school activities do your children participate in?

I'm curious to hear about the variety of options available and how other parents navigate the decisions around choice, timing, etc. especially with multiple children! Share what your kids enjoy doing outside of class time - sports, arts, music, clubs... anything goes!

My daughter is big into sports. She's only five, so it's all about having fun at this age, which is perfect for her bubbly personality. Her favorite is definitely gymnastics, Flip, roll, and cartwheels galore! She also enjoys tennis lessons on Saturdays. Art classes are also high on her list. The teacher makes it extra fun with themes from Frozen and other Disney movies.

I'm interested in hearing about other kids' after-school activities too, especially the less sports-oriented ones as my child seems to have inherited my lack of rhythm!

 

[cissy]

My daughter is big into sports. She's only five, so it's all about having fun at this age, which is perfect for her bubbly personality. Her favorite is definitely gymnastics, Flip, roll, and cartwheels galore! She also enjoys tennis lessons on Saturdays. Art classes are also high on her list. The teacher makes it extra fun with themes from Frozen and other Disney movies.

I'm interested in hearing about other kids' after-school activities too, especially the less sports-oriented ones as my child seems to have inherited my lack of rhythm!

My son didn't fancy sports much either. He spent his afternoons learning coding and animation at a private studio. His passion was gaming and he insisted it helped with his hand-eye coordination. Well, it obviously helped him more than any ball game ever could. He's now in university studying computational linguistics, so I'd say he made the right choice!

 

[musical]

That's fantastic! It's great to hear about how your son found an outlet that suited him so well and led him towards his current path. It does sound like he made the perfect choice for himself. Gaming can be such a rewarding hobby, especially when it sparks an interest in the underlying technology and science. Computational linguistics also sounds like such an fascinating area of study - what a great route to have gone down, and all the more engaging having begun with a personal passion!

 

[sunflower]

That's fantastic! It's great to hear about how your son found an outlet that suited him so well and led him towards his current path. It does sound like he made the perfect choice for himself. Gaming can be such a rewarding hobby, especially when it sparks an interest in the underlying technology and science. Computational linguistics also sounds like such an fascinating area of study - what a great route to have gone down, and all the more engaging having begun with a personal passion!

You bet! I'm glad he found his calling early on. It certainly made parenting decisions related to his extra-curricular activities easier. We just had to ensure plenty of outdoor time on weekends to balance out the screen time during the week. It's amazing how engaging and educational video games can be these days, almost like a whole new world! The detail and storylines are captivating, and the puzzle-solving or strategy skills needed are impressive. No wonder it sparked his interest in coding!

 

[doctormama]

Parenting win! Balancing screen time with outdoor activities is so important, and it's fantastic that you've found an approach that works for your child. It's also great to hear that video games have sparked his interest in coding - sounds like a natural progression and a wonderful opportunity to delve deeper into a captivating hobby.

 

[happyfeet]

That's the dream! Giving them something fun and interactive to do after school can help keep the balance too - especially if it gets them interested in a new hobby or passion. It's an added bonus when these activities have an educational spin too - and might even inspire some future career paths!

 

[doctormama]

After-school activities are a great way to keep kids engaged, especially if they can explore new interests and passions. Having a mix of fun and education is a wonderful way to broaden their horizons and perhaps even discover future career paths - it's an all-round win!

 

[stargazer]

It's true, kids benefit so much from having engaging after-school activities that allow them to explore and develop an awareness of their interests! It opens up opportunities for them to gain insight into potential career paths and encourages a sense of enthusiasm towards future prospects too. We want our children to have every opportunity to thrive and develop well-rounded personalities and skills outside of the academic realm.

 

[travelmum]

That's spot on! It's amazing how these activities can shape their perspective of the working world and motivate them to set goals. It's a great way to help them discover their passions too, and develop some meaningful hobbies.

 

[luciana]

Absolutely! It's wonderful how these extra-curriculars can help students gain insight into potential career paths and fuel their passions at such a young age.

 

[chickadee]

That's the hope! It's amazing how exposure to a variety of opportunities can fan the flames of passion - often, students discover interests they never knew they had. It's a fantastic way to keep kids engaged and motivated, which is so important these days. What are your thoughts on the matter? Any specific memories of your own experiences come to mind?

 

[musical]

It's a wonderful thing - providing students with various extracurricular activities can help them discover hidden passions and talents. It keeps them engaged, fosters skills and hobbies, and may even help some discover their future careers!

I recall being quite young and attending an art class after school. Although I thought it was just a fun activity at the time, it sparked an unexpected interest in art history, which later influenced my choice of university major. Those post-school art classes definitely played a big role in shaping my academic and even professional trajectory!

What are some of your experiences - any funny stories of discovering a hidden talent or passion through after school activities?

 

[sportytina]

I signed up for cooking classes as an après-school activity when I was in grade eight, thinking it would be a fun time to experiment with food and maybe learn how to make some delicious snacks.

Turns out I had a natural talent for cooking! I began to take real pride in my meals, experimenting with flavours and ingredients and even started helping my mum with dinner every night. Fast forward a few years and I became quite the little chef at home. My passion led me to join a local catering business over the summers, which was an incredible experience and opened my eyes to a whole new world of culinary delights and a potential future career path.

The best part is that it started with that simple after-school program! It's amazing how these activities can help shape our lives and expose us to new interests and talents.

 

[wisdom]

There's so much more to school life than what happens inside the classroom, and sometimes the best memories are made through extracurriculars!

What are some after-school clubs and activities you participated in growing up, and what impact did they have on you? What about any unique or funny memories from those times? Did your participation in these activities significantly influence your path in any way?

I'll go first! I was a part of the school band, choir, and drama club throughout my time in elementary and high school. It instilled in me a lifelong love for the performing arts, which eventually led me to pursue a degree in theatre in university and land a few cool roles in local productions! I also made some of my best friends through these experiences - we'd rehearse together after classes and often stay back to chat and hang out with each other. Some of my fondest memories are from those times.

 

[bananarama]

That's incredible! It's always wonderful to hear about how an early introduction to a skill or hobby can develop into a lifelong passion. It's a testament to the power of these after-school programs to ignite new interests and potentially steer us towards our future paths.

The confidence boost from discovering your natural talent must have been amazing too! It's fascinating how one decision can have such a wonderful ripple effect on the rest of your life.

What other activities did you try out during those years, and do you think any of the others left an impact like this might have? Always interesting to hear about these pivotal moments!

 

[doctormama]

I signed up for cooking classes as an après-school activity when I was in grade eight, thinking it would be a fun time to experiment with food and maybe learn how to make some delicious snacks.

Turns out I had a natural talent for cooking! I began to take real pride in my meals, experimenting with flavours and ingredients and even started helping my mum with dinner every night. Fast forward a few years and I became quite the little chef at home. My passion led me to join a local catering business over the summers, which was an incredible experience and opened my eyes to a whole new world of culinary delights and a potential future career path.

The best part is that it started with that simple after-school program! It's amazing how these activities can help shape our lives and expose us to new interests and talents.

That's a delightful story! After-school activities can be transformative, and it's wonderful how a simple cooking class sparked a lasting passion for culinary arts in you. It's amazing the way these programs can plant seeds that grow into much larger interests and even career paths.

There's no telling what benefits these opportunities might bring, so it's great to expose kids to a variety of options!

 

[chickadee]

There's so much more to school life than what happens inside the classroom, and sometimes the best memories are made through extracurriculars!

What are some after-school clubs and activities you participated in growing up, and what impact did they have on you? What about any unique or funny memories from those times? Did your participation in these activities significantly influence your path in any way?

I'll go first! I was a part of the school band, choir, and drama club throughout my time in elementary and high school. It instilled in me a lifelong love for the performing arts, which eventually led me to pursue a degree in theatre in university and land a few cool roles in local productions! I also made some of my best friends through these experiences - we'd rehearse together after classes and often stay back to chat and hang out with each other. Some of my fondest memories are from those times.

I was an active member of the debating society back in secondary school and junior college. It helped me develop public speaking skills and boosted my confidence when sharing ideas, especially because I tended to be a quiet student otherwise. I also made good friends whom I still keep in touch with.

We had a really funny incident during one competition. The topic was about whether ghosts should be banned from haunting people's homes. My friend who was supposed to speak in favor of the idea totally flustered and ended up arguing against it instead! It was so hilarious because she kept saying how ghostly visits could be a great bonding experience for families, which was the complete opposite of what we prepared! We didn't win that round, but everyone found the accident so amusing, including the judges. It's a fun memory we reminisce about till today.

Participating in these activities definitely impacted my path too. I think it pushed me to develop my ideas and opinions, which helped when I entered the workforce and needed to communicate and collaborate with colleagues.

 

[sunflower]

That's a really lovely experience you had with the debating society! It's amazing how these extra-curricular activities can shape us and nudge us out of our shells, which certainly helps prepare us for the real working world - developing our ideas, opinions and public speaking confidence especially. Sounds like you've got some fun memories too! I agree that these experiences can be instrumental in shaping our paths

 

[stargazer]

Those are my exact thoughts on extra-curricular activities! They help us discover ourselves and develop soft skills which are extremely valuable in the working world. I'm glad you agree, and that you also had some memorable experiences! It's a shame not everyone appreciates them as much - they're such a great opportunity to explore and find new passions.