Benefits Of Extra Curricular Activities

Extracurricular activities are after school activities learning new skills apart from academics. Every parent has a doubt when my child is eligible to join extracurricular activities. Every child is unique. As a parent, you must know a child should manage the chores on their own like putting on shoes, clothes, taking care of belongings and ensuring safety in all aspects. Then the child is eligible to enroll after school activities no matter which age, may at the age 5, 6 or 7. There are enormous after school activities for the children both indoor and outdoor. First let me list down.

1. Music
2. Drama
3. Painting and drawing
4. Robotics
5. Swimming
6. Football
7. Volleyball
8. Cricket
9. Karate
10. Tailoring ETC….

As a parent, first what you have to do is, absorb the area of interest in your child, then explain to the child about the benefits what you will get from it, take the child to the class, ask to absorb, then come home, get the feedback, if the child is curious or enthusiastic to learn that particular activity immediately enroll. 

A child can gain various benefits from learning after school activities.

Learning extracurricular at a young age helps boost your studies. For instance, learning Carnatic or western songs at the age of 4 or 5 gives immense brain growth in a short period. Some parents misunderstand, how can a child sit and learn such a long song at a very young age, so such parents do allow the child to enroll even if the child is interested in learning. The reality behind it is the child tends to learn new words and tones, helps in quick grasping whatever the child absorbs and enhances brain growth. 

Socializing is a very important aspect in all age groups. As the child starts going outside to classes, meeting different age group students, trainers and parents, helps learning new skills and habits. Some children may feel shy, it is quite natural, but once the child starts learning new skills from the trainers, wherever the child goes, interact and participate. Building social interaction from a young age, develops leadership skills and become a successful person in the future.

The children who learn both the academics and non-academics, become very busy and learn time management., what time and when to do it. When the children start learning new skills, similarly as the days go by, they start scheduling their tasks from morning till night.  

They learn to set a timetable for activities such as studies, after school activities, free playing, watching TV etc…

As I mentioned, there are various after school activities but as a parent you have to find out the interest and motivate the child to learn, you cannot force the child to learn what the parent is interested in.  Each class may consist of 1-hour duration, some children may not have patience to attend the class for the entire duration, in that case, at the beginning stage lower the duration and then extend.  Both academics and after school activities give good results for the children in the future.  

Here are some outdoor toys for your little one.

Lakshmi Sakthi Alagappan lives in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu, India. She is an  administrative officer at Blossom Public School. She likes reading books, listening to music and surfing.

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