034: Extracurricular Activities

October 30th, 2019 · 56 mins 10 secs

About this Episode

Parent Driven Development

Episode 034: Back to School and Extracurricular Activities for Kids

00:59 Welcome, Barrett Clark

  • Barrett Clark is a data programmer, speaker and author of Data Visualization ToolKit. He is a longtime member of the Ruby community and a co-organizer of RailCamp South. Married for 22 years, Barrett and his wife have two teenage boys and a new dog.

  • Ruby community

  • Family: 2 highschool teenage sons (senior / sophomore) both in band.

  • Parent advisors and past president to children’s band team

01:46 Extra curricular activities for kids

  • Barrett’s son involved with band
  • The parents get involved as well, to have the kids know that you value them and their interest
  • carpools with fellow parents

08:25 Extra cirrculars taking up more time than school and work. How to deal?

  • Helping kids see the importance of prioritizing (school, dating, work, band, etc)

12:20 Helping kids find their “thing” + Overly committing kids to activities to help them find a passion

  • Signing your kids up for more activities
  • Kids getting wiped out from over activity
  • Teaching kids the importance of community at a young age

15:15 Help kids find their community

  • Friends of similar interests and ideals
  • Creating deeper bonds
  • Certain activities lend towards a larger community than others. gymnastic - girls range from 12-18, while sports often limit to one age group

17:13 Becoming a part of your kids activities

  • More time with your children
  • Build your own community amongst the other parents involved with your kids
  • Flexibility in being involved “part-time”

20:51 Uninvolved parents vs. involved parents

  • Single parents
  • Younger kids in school
  • Parents helping each other get their kids to activities
  • Making sure other kids have support if their parents aren’t there or too busy

25:45 Ways to keep busy parents in the loop: build greater community

  • Film concerts, games, etc for distant family members or busy parents to help keep them involved
  • Building the community feel past just teammates and classmates

27:28 Discussing the organization of extra cirrculars before getting involved

  • Sit down and discuss with your child. what’s important to you most? will you have time for all these sports and clubs?
  • Ask about the history of the organization and decipher if it’s the right fit for you and your child

30:02 How to deal with “that parent” + learning to manage other parents in your kids activities

  • Don’t yell at refs
  • Overly involved parent envy

32:14 The financial side

  • Fundraisers - parents typically have to get involved as well
  • Writing a check vs. spending the time on fundraisers
  • Kids take responsibility (older kids)
  • Parents budgeting for future extracurriculars for kids
  • Non-negotiable extracurriculars for kids - kids choice vs. have-to’s
  • Budgeted financial support for activity or sport

42:35 Genius / fail moments

  • The volleyball team offers a weekend trial for students to try without commitment. #genius
  • New favorite child when they take on your same activity
  • Barrett plays catch up with son’s college applications - the struggles motivating your child and parent strategy #geniusfail
  • Middle school back to school night, too many teachers and no quality time #failmoment
  • Allison’s son on a mission to find Sukana bread… except she doesn’t know what it is #fail
  • Kwu’s son’s first haircut goes awry #fail So Kwu stepped up, orders tools and cuts his hair at home now #genius

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Panel

KWu
Chris Sexton
JC Avena
Allison McMillan
Josh Puetz