extracurricular activities during the year had dramatically better grades than those who participated in no extracurricular activities . There was a study done by the College Board , which found high school extracurricular participation is correlated with higher SAT scores , SAT math by 45 points and SAT verbal scores by 53 points .
More Adaptable
If a child is participating in more than one activity , they will also experience more than one coach or teacher who will have different rules and expectations . They will have the opportunity to meet kids with a range of personalities and interests . These interactions will teach a child how to be adaptable to multiple people and situations .
Maddi and Deborah Khoshaba ’ s training guide , Resilience at Work , discussed the importance of being adaptable and how when adaptable people lost their jobs they thrived due to their ability to adapt to changing circumstances . Being adaptable is a skill that can be beneficial both in the school or work setting .
Better Social Skills
Children will gain social skills both from the person in charge of the activity or sport and by interacting with their peers . They also have the opportunity to learn about teamwork by either playing a sport together or doing a group class such as a musical for drama .
In my daughter ’ s book club at the end of their discussion of the book , they have social time . During one meeting , she didn ’ t read the book , but she still wanted to go to the club since she loved the social interaction with her peers .
Less Screen Time
Common Sense Media research states on average teens spend over nine hours per day playing video games or watching TV . If children are participating in after-school activities they will have less opportunity to either watch TV or play video games and they will hopefully learn new skills .
Decreased Risk of Obesity
According to the CDC , obesity affects about 12.7 million children and adolescents for the past decade .
If a child participates in a sport , they will be more active , which leads to better health benefits from being physically fit . Even if a child did a club or an after-school activity , they will be more active than if they watched TV or played video games .
How to Balance Your Child ’ s Schedule
Sometimes , even for my daughter , you can have too many activities . I ’ m always cognizant of her energy level . If she needs to skip an activity once in a while , I let her . Or when I noticed she wasn ’ t enthusiastic about going to gymnastics anymore , we both decided it would be best not to sign up for the next session . Most importantly , you want to make sure your child is happy and definitely not bored .
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