Introduction
What do you do when you don’t know your child’s strengths and talents? Some students prefer trying more than one activity. With exposure, they identify the activities and talents that come naturally to them.
Students can also learn vital life skills. Such skills include time management, negotiation skills, and creative skills. However, these students opt out of one sports club membership to another from year to year. This hopping from club to the club has an additional cost and burden to the parents.
Moreover, in addition to money, did you know there are several negatives of extracurricular activities? Let’s discuss some below.
You may also want to explore this guide to screen time limits for children, which can also establish a healthy boundary for leisure activities.
Contents
A Costly Investment
Do you know how much it costs to enroll in dance classes, swimming lessons, coding for kids, or violin lessons? These are some of the most expensive activities. Unfortunately, most schools only set aside their annual budgets for academic-related projects. Students that take part in after-school clubs pay their fees separately.
According to various recent surveys, the fees charged for after-school activities keep on rising each year.
Parents and children alike pay more for costumes, sports equipment, travel expenses, meals, and registration fees to participate in school championships. Moreover, for parents with more than one child, these charges may even double or triple.
They Utilize Leisure Time
Money is not the only limiting factor. Most after-school tasks require students to spend a lot of time practicing for competitions. When will the child prepare for upcoming examinations? Time spent on these tasks may disrupt the child’s regular studies.
As a parent, you need to know how much time your child spends away from schoolwork. Discuss how much money and time you need for such activities. It is also important to plan for these activities together with your son or daughter.
On the positive side, there are various scholarships offered for talented students. These scholarships pay for most of the additional expenses.
Find out how you can receive such funding. Students can also opt for fundraising activities to help raise the extra fees. As they do so, they learn to work hard towards achieving goals. Ultimately, you will need to teach your child how to balance their studies with their leisure activities.
May Overwork the Child
Most after-school tasks take place in the evening. These recitals and sports practices, for example, may continue until late at night. The child still has home-based work to submit the following day. When the child lacks rest, his grades begin to fall.
Children can also become depressed, abuse drugs, rebel against authority, or become easily irritable.
Parents need to put the needs of the child first when weighing the negatives of extracurricular activities. The child should sleep for at least eight hours each night. As a parent, you must work hand in hand with your child’s coach. That way, you can better monitor the child’s moods.
If they seem to enjoy their non-academic tasks, let them continue. They can use that project to rest and relieve the pressure from academics.
Misplaced Priorities
So how do you keep your child busy after school? Do you know what your child’s future career plans are? Do you also understand how these different activities assist him or her in meeting their career goals?
Children, especially in the U.S., tend to have too much free time once the school year ends. Parents tend to enroll their children in any tasks available after school as a way of fitting in and impressing the other parents. As a result, children get exhausted and struggle to grasp new concepts both in and outside the classroom.
Even though students who excel in various after-school tasks have a better chance of getting favorable university placements, one should only concentrate on a handful of such activities.
Learn to prioritize competitive after-school activities to increase your kid’s chances of getting a headstart in their career. Misplaced priorities are one of the negatives of extracurricular activities that is almost irreversible.
At a young age, children should learn how to manage their time in order to become better not only in their chosen extracurricular activity but in schoolwork as well. While it may be difficult to practice and study at the same time, over time and with due diligence, these kids can easily work their way through school with flying colors, even with an entirely hectic schedule.
Start them young, and guide them through the process. Mistakes will happen, but it’s essential to be there when they start feeling anxious and lost.
Risk of Injury
The negatives of extracurricular activities can affect a child’s health as well. Safe Kids Worldwide, an international organization dedicated to the safeguarding of children from accidental injuries documents incidences of child injuries caused by after-school activities.
In 2013, the organization reported more than 1 million emergency cases for children below 19 years injured while taking part in extracurricular activities in the U.S.
Students can avoid accidents by following all the safety rules of the after-school groups. Equally, parents need to buy the right safety equipment for their children. They need to tell their children to use these safety kits when participating in extracurriculars.
Coaches, on the other hand, need to match students with age-appropriate tasks.
This is essential because children scare easily, and once they meet a very tragic injury, they might not continue with what they have started because of their fear of getting injured once again. Always practice safety measures and invest in the best available gear appropriate for the sport your child is learning.
Stress and Anxiety
Children are under pressure to please their parents and coaches. They strive to succeed both in and out of schoolwork. However, when the pressure is too great, they fail to perform as expected.
Such children are likely to develop anxiety attacks. These anxiety attacks interfere with the child’s growth. As a result, suicides and drug abuse are common among teenagers.
Let your child know that it is okay to fail. Encourage your child to rest during the school’s summer breaks. Use the break to catch up on schoolwork. Additionally, parents need to guide their children into doing only the after-school projects that they can manage comfortably.
Physiological Impact
Extracurricular activities tend to be quite competitive. Just like academics, there is a reward for top performers.
During these activities, kids meet new friends and socialize. However, kids who don’t seem to excel in anything else aside from academics feel left out in their social life.
Thus, it is important that kids are, early-on, told by their parents that just because you don’t excel in something doesn’t mean you’re not good at it. Sometimes, there are just people who are better than you. The earlier a child learns how to accept that, the quicker they will know how to find their way around society – making friends, meeting new acquaintances, allowing for an improvement with what they are currently doing.
Conclusion
Do you take part in extracurricular activities? Are they fun or tiresome? Given a chance, would you opt-out?
After-school activities provide hands-on experience in life.
The negatives of extracurricular activities should not keep you from practicing what you love. Instead, plan to prioritize and balance your work.
Parents can also encourage their children to take part in day-long events, instead of committing to months of extracurricular activities.
This helps both the parent and child identify their natural interests and talents without putting too much stress on the child. By doing so, you minimize the chances of developing resentment, stress or failing in academics.
