‘It’s vital’: Readers aren’t skipping extracurriculars for their kids
"It is extremely important for their health and well-being to do what they love and socialize with friends."
Navigating the pandemic has been particularly fraught for parents and caregivers raising young children. Between juggling childcare and school with concerns about the virus, it can be difficult to know when to weigh a child’s physical, social, and emotional well-being.
Schools have been a particularly fraught part of that conversation, but another challenge is deciding what to do about extracurricular activities. We asked Boston.com readers who care for children to share how they’re navigating activities like sports, dance, and theater for their children as we manage another surge in positive COVID-19 cases. Most parents who responded to our survey said that at this point in the pandemic, the social-emotional benefits of extracurriculars outweighed their concerns about the virus.
Kellie from Quincy said she feels good about her decision to put her children, who are fully vaccinated, back in after-school and weekend activities.
“School is stressful and chaotic with a lot of differing opinions,” she said. “Sports have been a place where they have structure, positive adults, friends, and exercise. I’ll cry if sports are shut down in my town.”
Some parents said they’re just now starting to feel comfortable having their children back in the typical group activities. Access to the kinds of activities that help improve children’s social and emotional growth has been limited for much of the pandemic, but now that all children ages 5 and up and eligible for the vaccine, many parents said they’re reassessing their hesitation to have their children involved.
“They haven’t been in anything since 2020, but we just got COVID so I’m going to start signing up again now that they’re at least a little immune,” said Emily from Wakefield. “I wish we could have stayed, but couldn’t justify the risk on top of daycare and school. I really missed doing baby music class and swimming with my little one and my son missed out on a lot of swims and skating too.”
Children are likely to be more engaged and do well in school when they’re participating in at least one extracurricular activity, whether that’s sports, lessons, or clubs, according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
For some parents, however, the risk is still too great to jump back into anything more than school and daycare. School-aged children currently have lower rates of vaccination than adults in the state, with just 46% of children ages 5 to 11 having received at least one dose. Eighty percent of children ages 12 to 15 and 79% of teens ages 16 to 19 have received at least one dose.
Aubrey from South Shore, who has three children, ages seven, five, and two, tried to put her children back in extracurricular activities and said she believes her family contracted the virus because of it.
“The older two are fully vaccinated but the younger isn’t old enough yet. We are doing daycare and school only and holding off on extracurriculars. Unfortunately, our kids are the only ones to wear masks at Tae Kwon Do. For a swim, it’s obviously impossible, so we feel better holding off,” she said. “We already had COVID go through our house in the early fall and we caught it from swim class. It was an awful experience — with both the illness but also the quarantine and isolation timelines, and that was only when two of us caught it!”
Regardless of their ultimate decision, every parent said they were putting the well-being of their child at the forefront of their minds. Below, you’ll find a sampling of responses from readers about what choice they’re making regarding their children and extracurricular activities.
Is your child currently participating in any extracurriculars?
Yes, “it’s what is best for the kids!”
“Three kids under 10. They have been back at all activities since spring 2021. Last year, basketball season was the last canceled sport. Even then I was able to find a club league. I think it is extremely important for their health and well-being to do what they love and socialize with friends. There is absolutely no reason to stop them. They are having fun and are doing great.” — Karalyn, Hanover
“Our entire family is vaccinated [and] boosted. Our kids have been playing basketball through the pandemic in various programs. They both look forward to doing so while not wearing a mask but playing is better than not. My teenager has resumed a normal high school social life the past few months, maybe even more as they try to make up for the ‘lost years.’ Once our youngest was able to be vaccinated, and the holiday passed, our mantra changed. We are going to trust in the vaccines and that they will keep us out of the hospital and accept that we may get a bad cold this winter while living more like any pre-pandemic year.” — Celeste, Tyngsborough
“My children are fully vaccinated, which is when we opted to put them back into extracurriculars. They absolutely needed to be back in school full-time. My husband and I are both teachers and have seen first-hand the devastating effects that a year of isolation and remote learning has had on kids. So we opted to put them back into extracurriculars in order to try to recoup what we lost over COVID. It is definitely a balance. We still don’t do birthday parties or playdates now that it has gotten cold. We still don’t do any large indoor activities but we felt that school and their one weekly activity were what we were willing to flex on. It’s what is best for the kids!” — Meg, Pembroke
“I was always hesitant about putting my son who is 1 1/2 and not eligible for a vaccine into extracurricular activities. But now that my family recently contracted COVID during Christmas and recovered with mild cases, I have completely changed my mindset. I am planning to enroll him in swimming for the first time. With my husband and I boosted and our daughter who is 5, fully vaccinated and recovered from COVID, I’ve decided to go forward with life and activities in a pre-pandemic mindset. You can’t live in fear forever.” — Lauren B., Hingham
“We are lucky the omicron surge happened during the holidays and our daughter, age 7, caught it on Christmas Day. All activities were paused anyways. She’s fully vaccinated and recovered in 5 days. Back doing dance and gymnastics without any problems. The studio and other parents have been great, not being very strict on guidelines but have been highly suggestive to reduce risk with the kids. These kids seem so excited to get exercise, socialize, and just be kids for a few hours a week. It’s a welcome break for them and parents.” — James, Quincy
“My kids are fully vaccinated and wear masks as much as they can. I know they totally slack on it if they aren’t called out. Their emotional well-being is tied closely to their physical well-being. They needed the physical and social aspect of sport/extracurricular activities during normal times and during the pandemic, it’s vital. We need to find a way to navigate our lives through these times so we can actually live and not just exist.” — Rebecca W., Reading
Yes, “but scaled back”
“Since the omicron surge, we paused our son’s karate lessons. It is conducted in a crowded room and some of the children in his class are too young to be vaccinated (let alone wear their masks well.) It’s a shame, as it’s our son’s favorite activity. We’ve kept up one science class as it has just a few kids in a large room. He hasn’t been to swim class since March 2020. We hope to resume all his extracurriculars in the spring. Our six-year-old is fully vaccinated and we live in a community with high vaccination rates. We felt good about masked extracurriculars before omicron, though we don’t believe in scheduling too much for children, so he already participated in fewer extracurriculars than his peers. We expect to return to karate by mid-February when omicron will likely subside.” — CJ, Arlington
“Yes, but scaled back, and with masks on. And they are vaccinated. I’m slightly nervous because not all parents feel the need to have their kids wear masks and/or be vaccinated. This makes the burden heavier on us because we have family members who are high-risk. But it’s important for my kids to take part, so we just take as many precautions as possible.” — Melissa H., West Bridgewater
“They will return to gymnastics, art class, fencing, and spring sports once we are past this surge. Until then, we participate in the activities we are able to do remotely.” — Anonymous
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