Tips on how to encourage your child to do extra-mural activities

The importance of extra-mural activities for your kids

When it comes to early childhood development, there are few better ways to help nurture your child’s growth than to get her to participate in extra-mural activities. Sports and cultural activities like choir and chess are great examples of productive extra-mural activities, they allow kids to learn while they participate, remain physically active and develop their social and emotional IQs.

In a previous blog, we identified a few reasons why extra-mural activities are essential for your kids, you can check it out here. If you don’t have the time to spare, keep reading for the gist.

The importance of extra-mural activities for your child’s growth

Extra-mural activities have several benefits for kids, namely for their health, social and intellectual growth. Physical activities help keep your kids active and develop several muscle groups in their bodies. By “playing with other kids” in outdoor environments, your kids’ ability to socialise with others (and therefore nurture their own identities) will be developed.

This all contributes to their emotional IQ, general intellect, and their overall mental wellbeing. Amongst many other benefits, extra-mural activities also teach children how to solve problems, nurture their creativity and think outside of the box.

How can you encourage your child to partake in extra-mural activities?

Convincing your child to do something that he may not want to do can prove to be a very difficult task, so you’ll need to confront the challenge from an informed perspective. Here are three of our favourite tips to help you tackle the task:

Be excited about your options and let your child make the decision

Kids follow the examples you set for them; being happy, excited and enthusiastic about getting them to take on extra-mural activities can greatly improve your odds of convincing them to do so. For shy kids especially, committing to extra-murals is a big decision – if you’re actively and positively a part of that decision, your child will have more peace of mind when choosing which activity to go for.

It’s important to also allow your child to make the final decision themselves. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Respecting the fact that different kids like different things is essential; even if you know their strengths better than them, you need to let your child live and learn until she finds the right extra-mural activity.

Knowledge is power, make sure your little one knows that

As we now know, extra-mural activities are essential for kids’ education. If you ensure that your child fully understands the power of knowledge, you can get him interested in the educational opportunities that extra-murals offer, thus getting them keen to partake. This is as simple as having daily conversations with your little one about this fact and being more active in your parenting.

Teach your bundle of joy about commitment

This tip goes hand in hand with the previous two. The more you teach your children about the benefits of commitment, the more they may be willing to commit to extra-murals. This isn’t a difficult feat to accomplish, if you’d like guidance however, get in touch with us today!