Kids Hobbies/Activities
 

Good Morning Everyone!
Looking for a bit of advice regarding DS10 and his hobbies. Or should I say lack of! He currently goes to karate once a week and has done for a few years (he’s pretty good at it) but I’d say since Christmas/January time he has not been wanting to go.
We have tears/sulks. He’s absolutely fine when he gets there and he seems to have a good time. When he first was reluctant to go, I put it down to him not feeling great. He has had various illnesses since September including fainting episodes and I thought he was panicking about fainting but they’ve all disappeared and he seems back on top form yet he’s still not feeling the love.
It’s got to the point now where I think I need to consider letting him stop but I’ve told him if he stops he has to do something else and he’s not sitting on his PlayStation all day which is basically what he would like to do. Yesterday he got “encouraged” (made) to go for a walk instead of karate. I’ve suggested swimming/football/rugby/tennis/junior gym/horse riding and he said no to every suggestion. He has no suggestion of his own either!

My eldest is the complete opposite! He trains 2xweek, plays matches twice a week and in the holidays he will be begging his dad to take him to the local playing field to train some more.

What do your kids do? Do they enjoy it?

My ds who is also 10, has always been incredibly difficult when it comes to doing activities outside school. Part of it has been because of shyness and part because of preferring to be on the PlayStation!

He does piano lessons - which he enjoys but not grades, just for fun.

He also goes swimming in a club once a week - which he says he hates but he had complained about me stopping his lessons a few years ago, so I started this and now I think it’s great exercise so I make him go! He enjoys it when he’s there it’s just getting there.

The one thing he absolutely loves though, and which is thoroughly recommend, is cubs. He’s been going since beavers and even my dd moved to scouts from brownies because it was such good fun. They do all sorts of activities and go camping and please do look into this. It is such a good thing for them growing up.

Mine do swimming and karate but in the past we've had trampolining, gymnastics, scouts snd library clubs.

I hope you find something of interest.

Does his school offer any after school clubs? My ds also chose to do rounders on a Friday and as his friends are there, he isn’t so shy about it.

My son would be great at cricket or hockey but won’t go.

My husband used to teach badminton to kids so they usually go once a week but just the two of them so again no shyness issues

Thanks all.

I’ll have a look into Cubs/beavers/scouts- not sure which it is for each age group but I think some of his friends go so that might be something of interest to him.

He’s not shy. He’s the kid that within 5 minutes of sitting by the pool, he’s found a friend to play with. ☺️

Honestly, I think he’s just lazy. Which is why I’ve made him go for so long! That and the fact that it seems a shame to give up something that he’s talented at.

I think I’ll have a word with his Sensei and see if he can give him some words of encouragement. 👍🏻

It will be cubs/ scouts at his age I think and if you can find a really active colony it’s just fantastic. Mine started scouts at 11 are are still involved in explorers and young leaders at 16. It’s just awesome how many activities are provided.

Yes probably scouts in fact as my son is June baby and should have moved up a while ago

My DS was not that enthusiastic about activities between the ages of 12 to 14 - I think it is the age. From 14 onwards he has done running and gym at least 2-3 times a week.

DD rides - about 5 or 6 times a week and competes too so I can never complain about her doing enough stuff :D

I found this with my youngest son too. He’s 14 now and seems to have found a lot of energy and enthusiasm again. He’s been doing taekwondo for the past 6 years, and this past few months he’s starting to really enjoy it again, rather than just plodding along as he had been for a while. He’s now training twice per week (3 hours total), and aiming for his full black belt in the autumn. He helps train the younger/lower belts too and enjoys it all.
He went through a stage of just playing his Xbox/ps etc, but has become much more sociable again and as I said, more active.
He actually got up at 3.30 this morning to go with his dad to walk to the summit of Mt Snowdon. A couple of years ago, he wouldn’t have done that.

OP - I hope he is just going through a lull with karate atm, as it’s such a shame to give up after so long.

Son was never really into organised activities.He did karate and boys brigade until aged about 10/11. He then just didn’t want to do organised activities. I wish now I had encouraged him to go to scouts because I do think it is a great organisation for organising lots of different types of activities.
Daughter will join anything. She did rainbows/ brownies and is now a young leader, swimming but her main pastime is athletics which with competitions takes quite a bit of time.
If he is off to high school this year his friendship group will probably change, new interests may arise from the new school and new friends.