Rosalyn Hoffman - The Smart Mamas Guide to After-School Activities: Getting Your Moneys Worth from Sports, Lessons, Camp and More

The Smart Mamas Guide to Afterschool Activities: Getting Your Moneys Worth from Sports, Lessons, Camp, and More

Rosalyn Hoffman

N EW A MERICAN L IBRARY

Published by New American Library, a division of

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Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Most of the contents in this book first appeared in Smart Mama, Smart Money.

First E-Book Printing, August 2012

Copyright Rosalyn Hoffman, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

ISBN: 978-1-101-60805-0

PUBLISHERS NOTE

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

Outdoor recreational activities are by their very nature potentially hazardous. All participants in such activities must assume the responsibility for their own actions and safety. If you have any health problems or medical conditions, consult with your physician before undertaking any outdoor activities. The information contained in this guide book cannot replace sound judgment and good decision making, which can help reduce risk exposure, nor does the scope of this book allow for disclosure of all the potential hazards and risks involved in such activities. Learn as much as possible about the outdoor recreational activities in which you participate, prepare for the unexpected, and be cautious. The reward will be a safer and more enjoyable experience

C ONTENTS

Introduction

Ah, the parenthood industrial complex. It preys on your fears. It permeates your dreams. It picks your pocket. You must purchase this deluxe baby-brain-exercising doodad or your child is sure to bomb the SATs! You must sign them up for an ever-escalating array of classes and clinics; send them to the right sleepaway camp, math enrichment, soccer clinic, ballet, art, music classesor theyre doomed to fail.

You need this. You must enroll in that. You cant do that! You must read this and this and this. (Oh, you havent read that? And you call yourself a good, responsible parent?) You must forgo yourself for your child. If you love your child, you must spend, spend, spend. Right?

Wait, not so fast.... Take a deep breath.

Start with this basic premise: You dont need most of the sh*t these hustlers are pushing. Mommy and Me classes are great for connecting with other new moms, but dont kid yourselfyour newborn couldnt care less. Dont spend money believing that your grade schooler will get a head start in math, engineering, or nuclear physics at special tutoring sessions after school. (A head start on what, by the way?) You do not need to drag your kid to NYC to study ballet or send them to England to play club soccer.

Easy for us to say. Youre surrounded by all those crazy parents, the ones who cant talk about anything but their kids accomplishments: the game winning goal scored; the aria sung at perfect pitch; the art installation now previewing at the Met. The parents who never miss a sports practice, a music lesson, a play rehearsal. The same parents who have strategically designed their kids courses of study and extracurricular program all the way through college.

Youve run into the win-at-all-costs instructional league soccer coach who benched your five-year-old because he didnt know how to play. Been blindsided when your soprano didnt get a part in the church musical, but her best friends all did because they took private voice lessons. Other moms are schlepping kids to lessons and classes, signing them up for volunteer programs, walks and marches, and enrolling them in specialty camps and clinics.

The Tiger Mom next door runs her house with military precision; punishing, pushing, and prodding to demand excellence. The faux-French mom sends her kid to etiquette class while she sits at the caf drinking wine and smoking cigarettes (wait, maybe shes onto somethingthe wine part, we mean). Forget about the calorie-restricting mom sending her kid to exercise boot camp hoping to get a magazine spread and a book deal.

You swore youd never be like any of them. But watching all the helicopter parents launching their kids is sending your anxiety through the roof. Now youre wondering: what do all those crazy parents know that you dont know?

Trust us. Not a thing. Smart mamas know that balance is the game.

Just in time for back to school, TheSmart Mamas Guide to Afterschool Activities offers you the sane guidance you need to navigate the world of enrichments, while putting you back in touch with the joysand benefitsof free play. We have the road map you need to get your kids going in the right direction in everything from art to music to sports to camp to knowing when its time to quit. Kids also need structured activities to help them learn and grow; to help them develop new skills; to give them the opportunity to succeed and to fail. Kids need time to be bored and find their own inner resources, time to ride their bikes and shoot hoops. Most of all, kids need to know how to play and how to have fun.

When its time to sign them up, we have tips and resources for programs to look at, questions to ask, and ways to keep them safe. Well help you to understand what is driving you to drive them, learn to listen to what they want, and clearly see them for who they are.

Relax. Put your feet up. Grab a glass of wine and start reading.

Well keep you grounded.

T HE S MART M AMA M ANIFESTO*

*Weve made this list with help from our fans. Join us at SmartMamaSmartMoney.com to add your rules to the Smart Mama Manifesto!

• We will call what were doing work. Even if the world doesnt acknowledge it, we will: Motherhood is the hardest work in the world. Its physically demanding, psychologically strenuous, spiritually complex, and unpaying.
• We will cry when we need to.
• We will laugh maniacally when we need to.
• We will complain when we need to. We are allowed to bitch. Well never forget the healing power of a good old-fashioned rant.