When to begin sports/dance/etc

luvmykids wrote: Kylie wants to try ballet or gymnastics, Colt wants to join a thing at the Y that teaches Tball, soccer and basketball.

How old were your kids when you started stuff like this?

BAC'sMom replied: Ansley was five when she started dance and she loves it. Brandeis started playing sports basketball and baseball when he was seven. I would say whenever they get ready Mom.

Kaitlin'smom replied: Kait was 2 1/2 whe she took gymnastics, she was not all that into it so we stopped. She now wants to try ballet. I now need to find that since I got pre-school taken care of

luvmykids replied: For the last 3 years everyone has said "You think you're busy now, wait till they're all in activities" and I couldn't even fathom the idea. Now, here we are, trying to coordinate something for Colt, something for Kylie, preschool, etc. and I can't imagine another few years down the road when all three are doing it!!!! May have to break down and get that mini van after all!

MommyToAshley replied: It seemed like Ashley started everything the minute she turned 3...literally. She started preschool the day before she turned three, and then started dance the next day. She really loves dance. I think it is her first love. I had planned to just put her in dance but things sort of snowballed from there. She also takes gymnastics and swimming lessons.

You may remember from another post that she wants to play soccer, but I think I am going to wait until next year. She's got enough going on. I sometimes feel like her chauffeur. I can only imagine what it would be like to try to juggle the schedule when you have three kids.

Sorry to ramble... now to answer your question ....

I think your kids are the perfect age to "try out" an activity or two. I would try to do a trial day if available before you commit long term. We were able to try out dance and gymnastics before commiting, but not soccer. As long as your kids are enjoying it, then I say go for it.

As for dance, Ashley wanted to try ballet too, but I found a "kinder-dance" class for 3-6 year olds. It's a pre-ballet class and teaches rythm and movement and following instructions, etc. But, the music is a little more fast paced and there's a lot more "movement", kwim. I don't think Ashley would have the patience for ballet just yet. I forget how old Kylie is, and she might love ballet but I just thought I would share our experience with you. Let us know what you decide.

luvmykids replied:
She's 4, and I really think it's the image of the tutu and slippers but I could be wrong. DH wants her to try dance, ice skating and gymnastics and let her pick which she likes best. I'm checking around to see where we can try what. I think we may try Colt in Karate or something too, of course DH wants to find a golf clinic but he's too young for the ones I've found so far, and if he wanted to play golf I think we would've gotten an indication since he's had clubs since he could walk!

I'm planning on swim lessons at some point this summer too, and maybe some kind of light preschool until we know if we're moving or not. I guess if I would enjoy having some alone time I might as well make it educational for them.

Thanks for the input!

kit_kats_mom replied: I enrolled K in swimming a few months before her third birthday. She took two sessions of that. Then she tried soccer which was not her thing.

We are now trying to tie her down to either music or dance but she can't make up her mind which she wants to do first. My goal is to not have her in more than one program at a time. that way she can practice if she wants and really focus on it. I'm sure that there will be some overlap of programs occasionally but I'm going to try to get her involved in gymnastics, music classes (she wants to play the piano like her poppy), dance and some more swimming at some point.

mom21kid2dogs replied: Unlike everyone else we know, we waited to start Olivia until she was almost 5. She takes gymnastics and acrobatics. We missed spring soccer but she wanted to try that to. We waited for a multitude a reasons. Most everyone we know enrolls their girls in ballet. A beautiful sport but rather demanding and, well, it moves way to slow for alot of 3 year olds. I have yet to see a 3 yr old IRL complete or really like this (the exception is a friend whose daughter (16) now dances in the Ballet Met jr company). If you go with dance, personally acrobatics or jazz seem to work better for a younger set. Mommy and me classes seem to be much more successful than ones where the child goes solo in my experience. I bought Olivia a Bella Dancerella ballet video for Christmas because she really said she wanted ballet and she hardly ever uses it. It was cheaper than a set of classes.

Olivia was still pretty much a parallel player at 3ish. She wasn't that into crowd interaction. The class sizes for dance here were enormous~like 20 kids. When we did go, we found a program in another city (actually, it's the Y0 where she is one of 4 or 5. It's much better for her. She did so well the first session of gymnastics that they moved her up a level at the first class. It was so great for her self esteem.

The major reason we waited, though, was we have a family ethic that you finish what you start. I'm not fond of quitters and don't really want to raise one. We felt that by waiting we could better enforce that value by identifying her likes/possible talents at age where it was more developmentally appropriate to do so, waiting till she was able to handle the structure of classes and the seperation from parent, and hopefully have a better experience for all of us. Loads of 3 year olds get bored with a class routine pretty quickly and then the whining starts about attending. Unfortunately, you then have to pick your fight if you've built it and we didn't want to do it. Waiting worked for. She's had great success at what she tried, loves going to her classes and is invested in it personally. We'll see how she likes that first dance recital in May!

jcc64 replied: Well, I am in one of those stereotypical, harried, overscheduled families, but it is more from the older kids than the 3 yo. I've now limited them to 1 sport per season, although my oldest plays in 3 separate baseball leagues simultaneously. For this reason, I simply can't enroll the 3 yo in too much right now. She takes a class at The Little Gym, which is a pre-gymnastics class that she LOVES,and for now, she seems fine with that, in conjunction with her 3 days of all day preschool. Now that I can see what's coming down the pike, I'm in no hurry to overschedule her at this point.

luvmykids replied:
Thats a big point to think about ... we feel the same way about keeping committments. I think we'll have to talk about that aspect some more, and maybe try to find a "short" series if we do decide to go ahead. Then if they decide they don't want to do it we don't have too long to have to stick it out.

I also don't want to set them up for failure, by putting them in something that will frustrate them or make them feel bad. We may just go with a group thing at the Y that is really more like a giant PE class.

JP&KJMOM replied: JP started soccer with the YMAC at 4 and is still in it and LOVES it. We did winter basketball but he did not enjoy it all that much. Word of advice though. If your area has a YMAC program do that vs. private programs at first. They are non competitive and wonderful about teaching sportsmanship and very patient with the little ones.

Karlee will be 4 in July and officially starts dance next week and she is so excited. I am not sure I am ready for my BABY to be in activities but she is ready!

ions_momma replied: The youngest that I could find for Ion to start anything (other than swimming lessons and gymnastics) was for ages 4 and 5 (preschool basically). That was pretty much only t-ball and soccer as far as team sports went. He has done camps for basketball though and loved them! Those started at age five around here.

I agree with JP&KJMOM, if you have a YMCA, try there first. They are great for learning the rules of the game and good values, in a non-competitive way!

Brias3 replied: Have you inquired at the Y about possibly "trying out" a class? I know that they let Aliyah try out a gymnastics class for a day before joining to see how she liked it.

Mine have been in extracurriculars since about age three, excluding the Mom-n-me type classes. When Ryan started with t-ball and pee-wee basketball, they were offered through his school (they were attending an international school while we were living in Brussels so things were slightly different than what you find here in the States) so we enrolled him as interest increased. The advantage to this was that alot of his nursery school friends were also enrolled in the sports. At around three, Aliyah also started dance class. They both were showing interest at the time so I went ahead and let them try things out.

I'd say if your kids seems genuinely interested and you are willing to make the committment yourself to add extras into your weekly schedule, then go ahead and let them do it. Once again, see if they can "test the waters" a bit by talking to the program instructor beforehand and find out what their policies are on that.

Good luck!

A&A'smommy replied: I'm a dance teacher and as far as I can tell you start her when she is ready and can handle being without you if she WANTS too then sign her up now!! I'm starting Alyssa next year and she wont be quite too but she wants to and she will/should be completly potty trained by then

luvmykids replied: Thanks everybody for the great advice!

I've found classes for Kyles to try in dance (it's a combo of movement and basic ballet and jazz, ages 3-5) and skating and gymnastics (really more like summersaults and stuff, balance, etc.) but not at the Y, they didn't have any thing right now like that.

The Y does have a 3-5yo class that teaches the basics for tball, soccer and basketball and sounds good BUT it's on Saturdays, same as dog obedience school that we've already paid for. But I did find a Karate class for him to try for 4yo only, so the next few weeks will be busy busy!

I figure it's also a chance for ME to test and see if I can handle all the extra stuff!

MyPrincessGirls replied: My Daughter Kailtyn was 3 years old when she started Ballet. She was in baby ballet which ran thur the city's parks and rec system.

The classes were 30 minutes long once a week for 6 weeks... basicaly a taste of what ballet is like. She has done two runs of it so far and loves it.

Now that she is 5.. baby ballet is no longer an option.. so if she wants to continue she must go though a ballet school.

the classes thru parks and rec was cheap! 26 bucks for the 6 weeks!


The school.. you must join for a minium of a year and pay the year's price.. which I'm not sure how much it is.. but it's considerably more that 26 bucks! lol