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Are there inexpensive enrichment activities I should consider enrolling my ~5 year old daughter in?
I was in Girl Scouts, but it was getting pretty dodgy (heavy cookie sales focus, zero outdoors skills) even then, and I haven't heard great things lately. 4-H is still good as far as I can tell, but for 10 and up. Someone I know tried Mormon and Evangelical groups (for a bit older kids), and said the boys groups were fine, but the girls were doing kind of the larp housewife stuff people have been commenting on lately. A co-worker has her first grade daughter in gymnastics and she likes it, but I think that's kind of expensive for me at this time.
Any physically demanding team sport.
Soccer, basketball and volleyball are usually the most popular among girls and I'd mildly favour basketball or volleyball since thay seem to cause less female specific injuries if they go onto elite level competition/exercise.
Maybe you don't consider this enrichment though?
Another option is joining a church choir, it's often free, not very preachy (if that is something that bothers you) and it's a decent music education.
She's 5. I went to the kind of English prep (i.e. private primary - different meaning to the US) school where team sports is as important as academics, and we didn't play "real sport" until year 3 (September after 7th birthday). If getting 5-year-olds into team sports was a good idea then traditional English schools would have done it.
It depends on what your goal is I suppose, the first years are very casual. People obviously have different opinions on these kinds of things.
I started soccer at 6 but I know that it was available for 5yos at my local club. My local basketball club offers activities from age 3.
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I guess I hadn't considered team sports, because it seems like a big commitment, and we do a family day trip every Saturday that it's nice out and we aren't sick. I wouldn't really expect any kind of elite level competition, since there are no athletes on either side of the family, just high energy and openness that manifests as hiking/camping/restlessly exploring everything in a three hour driving radius. Maybe I'll look into it and see what team sports involve and are available in the area.
I'm trying to go back to church, and suspect chanting/choir (our preferred church is Russian tradition liturgically) might be a good activity for our younger daughter, especially, but do also like that it's something where the other kids and I could all go and participate and not just be spectators. It could also be something to do during the service -- currently they just act really antsy and distracting (part of why we don't go much).
Team sports usually isn't a big commitment until they're like 12+. For the very young (like 5-7yo) it's usually 1 to maybe two times a week on weekdays and no games.
A plus is also that its often possible to let other parents do most/some of the work, at least if you can befriend them. You don't need all parents to drive to every game for instance. I don't know your living situation and how car dependant your area is but when the kids get a bit older its often possible for them to largely manage themselves.
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