How much outside school activities should a 4 year old do?
7 January 2010 5 Responses
A Parent asks, My 4 year old daughter is starting kindergarten next year. She is currently doing ballet and jazz classes. Do you think adding tap classes would be too much? She loves dancing and has asked to do tap. I think with the obesity epidemic its important for kids to be active but dont want to overload her at a young age. What do other people think?
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Ask her. She might be looking to drop jazz or tap. There’s also no harm in dropping one to try tap and going back to it at a later date. It will benefit her in the long run anyway.
But if she has alot of energy, add the tap. It might be a little hectic, but it’s not like she’s going for a full day of school or going to be getting homework. Try it, and if it works out, great. If not, at least you tried.
It’s my personal opinion that kids need time to be kids-free from schedule, class time, etc-so that they can explore on their own. That helps them to develop creatively, but also encourages independance and a better sense of self.
I wouldn’t put my four (or five, or six) year old in three different types of classes outside of school-I think that’s a too much. I would tell her that she can take two classes and that she has to choose-but it’s really up to you as her mom!
My daughter is 5 and where we live it is full day kindergarten. Also homework for kindergarten. It sounds like too much to me. Of course, my daughter loves to run around with the neighborhood kids free and unstructured. She gets plenty of activity and fun that way without adding a third class. You could swap out one or find a class that covers a wider range of dances… Or pick up an additional dance option in the summer…
Oh yes! When I was 4 – 6 I did ALL SORTS of things! It was a blast! A child her age wants all this! I did ballet, jazz, tap, and gymnastics all through my ages of 4 to 7 or 6 I think. Go for it!
I really think at the age of 4 you should wait to add anything further to her days. When she is 7 or 8 she could take up tap as well as the other dances but for everyones sakes it would be a real load to put on a 4 year old not to mention the parents.
It seems that these days it is a competition to get ones kids to do as many things to advance themselves. Kids need time to do things with mum and dad more than anything else when 4 and if they are running here and there how can they have the time or energy.
My daughter is an advanced ballet dancer and believe me kids dont need to start dancing before they start kindergarten to be good. I thought starting my daughter at Ballet when 5 years old was an early start.
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