Failing After School Activities

Last week, your child was excited to join Tae Kwon Do. Now, when you go to take him to his weekly lesson, he is complaining about how hard it is, how he cannot wait for it to end, and wants to move on to something else. Parents often wonder what happened and are confused by their change of mind by their children.

When you involve your child in an after school activity that starts to create tension and resistance, it is time to listen and investigate. Jumping to conclusions is not the way to handle it. Maybe your child does not like his Tae Kwon Do class because at the end of the night, he is always sore, or he has a hard time focusing on things. Asking your child questions to why they are starting to dislike their special activity is the best way to start. After you get your answers from you child, you can go to the teacher or instructor and ask them the same questions. Your child tells you that Tae Kwon Do makes him sore the next day, and when you go to the instructor he informs him maybe he is attending class without eating right, causing him to be sore the next day. Clues like this can help discover other potential problems that your child may have. You too have to ask yourself these same questions. Does the program seem fun? It is it interesting? Would I want to attend this class myself?

The size of the class or activity is also very important. Some children need specific attention. If there are too many children enrolled in a specific program with only so many instructors, maybe they are not getting the specialized instruction that they need. The state recommends that ideally there should be 1 teacher for every 15 children. Anything more than that can the root of your child losing interest in a specific program.

Many times, children try and avoid problems they cannot solve. If you do not notice anything with the class size and teachers, the best thing to do is to talk with your child. If you feel that where the activity takes place is a good environment, you need to find out what your child is lacking. Social pressure is known to be a major problem of failing after school activities. Maybe you child does not have any friends there or feels lonely. You can assist in this problem by showing up yourself and finding a friend for your child. If the child feels more comfortable working with a friend, the activities will get more interesting and become a success.

If your research and questioning does not assist in solving the problem, it is best to simply discard the activity. Research another program for your child, and talk with them to find out what may work best. It is possible that they may have an interest in an activity, but the program did not work at the time, they may decide to come back to it later.