"I don't want to go anymore..... It's boring"

This is the line that I got from my 8 year son today, three weeks into starting his first ever out of school club. 

Money has always been a little tight for me, having been a single “stay at home” mum for the past 4 years and I have always felt a little guilty for not being able to afford to take him to out of school activities.  But things are on the up and I am now living with a new partner as well working a part time job.  So, I thought now would be a good time to step up and do all the things most other families are doing.  So, we picked Gymnastics as it is just round the corner from our house and was recommended to us by a friend whose son and daughter both attend, and they love it. 

I took him along to his FREE taster session, and he loved it.  We had originally agreed that he would just go once a fortnight (as he spends some days in the week with his Dad), but after his first session he loved it so much he wanted me to let him go every week.  So, we made the commitment to join and I paid the monthly subscription fee.    We even got him some new Gym gear, which he wanted to “save just for the Gym” and he went along the second week, all kitted out in his branded Tracksuit bottoms and T-shirt (purchased from ebay of course) and he loved it.

 

I am not sure what was different this week, unless of course it had something to do with his delivery of his new Horrid Henry and Tom Gates Books and the three new Skylanders that he brought with his birthday money, but he informed me tonight that he didn’t want to go anymore because it’s boring”!!!! 

Now usually there is no way I would let him get away with that... but I had a migraine all day and really wasn’t feeling up to driving anywhere, so on this occasion I caved and let him stay home.

But - I really think he needs this.  He is 8 years old and has no brothers or sisters, or cousins or any close friends outside of school.  Hardly any of my friends have children and although according to his teacher, he is really popular at school and has lots of friends; outside of school it is completely different.  He has no one.  We have also just moved out of school catchment too, but even when we lived close, he rarely had friends over for tea either.   He has always been a loner and appears to be happy that way. 

I never really had the opportunity to go to many clubs as a child and we never had friends over for tea either.  Both my brother and I had our birthdays in the summer holidays too, so we never even got Birthday parties and we both turned out ok. 

So, what should I do?   Should I insist he carries on, as I believe it will be good for his social skills and also teach him about commitment, as well as give him somewhere to let off steam and use up all that energy, or do I give in and not waste my money (which I can only just spare) on something he says is boring?  It would be very easy to just give in and give myself an easy life as well as saving a little bit of money along the way, but then I know I should make him stick it out at least for a few more weeks!!

What would you do?  Do your children attend out of school activities and if they do, what do they do and was it their choice or yours?  And what if they decide they want to give it up?

 

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