After School Activities

Category Archives: After School Activities

After school program – recreational vs educational

So, your child is beginning to get restless and make you restless. He has got more time than is good for him, and you are now considering after school programs – anything that will keep him busy for a few life-saving hours! Most after school activities can be broadly classified into three – recreational, educational and society-oriented. The last bit usually comes in when your child is already a bit grown up and can voice his own interests.

Educational activities aim at furthering the knowledge of your child. His general awareness, his understanding and his memory are targeted and he is given various techniques that will help him improve one or all of these. Programs such as intensive memory training and speed mathematics are educational after school activities. There are academic programs that will go over your child’s homework and class work and help the child gain more in-depth knowledge in the various subjects. Thus academic programs have a definite edge over the fun and games, especially if parents feel that their child has a lot of catching up to do.

Potentials of after school programs

With children becoming the primary focus of society, ways and means to ensure their safety and development are being researched. The Government too has pooled in to make a success of such programs. Here are some of the reasons why after school programs have become so popular:

1) Preventing Juvenile Delinquency, crime and violent victimization:

About 10% of juvenile crimes happen between 3 P.M. – 4 P.M. Children need to be kept safe and out of trouble at such times 2) Preventing alcohol, drug and tobacco use. Risk-taking behavior that seeks to establish superiority in a clan is mostly seen in ‘latchkey’ children. Children in their pre-teens, if they have a meaningful relationship with a mentor, are less likely to indulge in these kinds of destructive behavior 3) Decreases appetite for Television: An average child watches about 23 hours of TV per week. When enrolled for some activity, the child utilizes his mental and physical skills to meet challenges. 4) Improving academic achievements 5) Improving school attendance: More confidence in self and increased interest in school leads to greater attendance in school. A program that helps children with their homework also gives the child a much-needed feeling of self-achievement. 6) Improved behavior and inter-personal skills Children who attend after school activities handle conflict better and cooperate more with authority figures. 7) Closer family and community ties.

The Learning environment

There is often a trap in the words ‘after school activities’. One may

easily believe that since these activities are after school, they are not

of much importance. But, one couldn’t be more wrong. Research suggests

that children pick up some of their most important skills from after

school programs. That is why children who do not participate in any extra

curricular activities are generally slow and less vibrant.

The learning environment that one fosters in after school activities must

be as disciplined and as functional as that found in the school. This is