Engaging extracurricular activities for children, from sports and arts to hobbies and creative pursuits, designed to build confidence, skills, teamwork and creativity.
A Football Beyond Borders survey finds 74% of boys aged 13 to 18 wanted to discuss a worry with an adult but did not feel anyone trustworthy was available. Football Beyond Borders, the charity backed by Ian Wright, says many…
Families are turning to affordable community programmes for music, visual art and performance as school-based opportunities shrink across Seattle. For 11-year-old Aliza Crystal, the arts are not an extracurricular luxury but a core part of daily life. The West Seattle…
Paediatric guidance urges families to look beyond minutes spent online and set predictable rules that protect sleep, learning, movement and relationships. For many families, digital devices have become part of the fabric of daily life, used for entertainment, homework, messaging…
Rhode Island research has found a strong association between sustained arts participation and improved school attendance, with the clearest link among pupils who studied music consistently. At the Cape Symphony Conservatory, the start of a new year has brought a…
Professor Peter Fonagy tells MPs that adults set the tone for children’s technology use and should model face-to-face conversation instead of criticising a so-called “snowflake generation”. Parents should keep mobile phones off the dinner table and make a point of…
Uniforms, equipment, travel and event fees can push children’s activities far beyond their advertised price. Here’s how families can budget realistically and keep costs sustainable. Families often discover that the price of a child’s activities goes well beyond the sign-up…
Choosing what to leave out can be as important as managing a packed schedule, with experts warning that guilt and performance pressure often disguise themselves as poor time management. For student-athletes, the hardest part of managing a packed life is…
Experts say families should judge children’s device use by age, content and its impact on sleep, activity and relationships , with parental involvement more important than a universal daily limit. Parents looking for hard limits on children’s screen use are…
Adjustable belts, lighter resistance and a secure fit can help young athletes build acceleration and power without sacrificing sprint technique. Running parachutes are a simple way for young athletes to add resistance to sprint work without bringing a lot of…
Exercise can sharpen cognition and support wellbeing, but performance pressure, social media comparison and compulsive training can turn sport into a mental strain. Sport is often praised for what it does for the body, but its effect on the mind…
Meaningful participation means more than asking children for their views: adults must listen, explain their limits and allow children’s responses to shape what happens next. Children in yoga classes, classrooms and family settings are often told to listen closely to…
Performance may peak in the late afternoon, but researchers say the most effective workout time depends on personal body clocks, sleep patterns and the routine people can maintain. The question of when to exercise has a simple answer only on…
