If your child does not like an after school activity, do you make him/her finish it?
With three children, we are constantly in activities. Since all of these activities cost something, I want my children to appreciate the time, effort and money it takes to put them in their activities. There are times however they complain they no longer want to do an activity they are signed up for before the season or class officially ends. So my question is do you make your child finish an activity they have signed up for or let them quit early if they do not like it?
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I would say "yes...ish." Each of my kids has had moments of regret about activities they've willingly signed up for. In most cases, I've made them push through till the end of the season, and they were just fine. However, I can think of one or two times a child has TRULY been miserable and uncomfortable, and in those situations, my husband and I have allowed them to quit.
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I agree with "yes...ish!" If they're truly miserable or there's an issue with the instructor, I'd let my kids drop out of an activity.
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My son signed up for a special music class in school to play the violin. Midway through the year, he decided he didn't like it and even though I tried to encourage him to stick it out, he was miserable and I realized it wasn't worth it and it just wasn't for him. My feeling is, at least he tried, and now he knows to try other things.
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I almost always advocate for sticking it out and keeping the commitment EXCEPT when it comes to musical instruments! They take a lot of effort and patience to learn, and when a kid has mentally given up on it, it seems like a special kind of torture to force them to continue. Plus, it discourages them from trying another instrument down the road.
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We definitely make our kids finish anything they start for the reasons listed - time, commitment, money. Our rule is they can quit when the season is over and don’t have to ever play/participate again. We’ve had a few times when one of the kids has been miserable but I think it’s a good lesson to learn to stick it out.
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I completely agree with sticking it out and seeing through on the commitment. It's a life skill that we all have to deal with. We've been lucky enough to not have any scenarios where there was issue with the instructor or our kids were absolutely miserable. I think you have to look at the specific situation and see if seeing it through does more harm than good.
