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Do you make your kids go outside?

I don't have kids but when that time comes I will not make them go outside and play or sign them up for any kind of team or lessons. I know some parents make their kids go outside, make them play sports or take some kind of extra curricular activities but I would not do that. If my kids wanted to go outside they could but if they wanted to come back in that'd be fine too. I wouldn't say stuff like "you're not going to stay inside all day" or "you have to play some kind of sport". I wouldn't make my kids go outside, play sports, or make them do some kind of extra curricular activity unless they wanted to. My Mother never made me and my brothers go outside, she never signed us up for any kind of team, or made us take lessons. I had a brother who took piano lessons and two other brothers one who played T-Ball, the other played baseball. They wanted to though. Are there any parents who don't force their kids to go outside or do anything extra curricular?

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midnightrose · F

I don't force extracurriculars. I have asked if they want to, just so they know the opportunity is there. Growing up I didn't play a lot of sports or participate in extracurriculars but later wished I had done more.

Sometimes I make my kids go outside, especially when they start to get too rowdy and causing trouble. Usually they do this when they're bored or have been in the house too much. That's kind of my cue that they need to use up some energy which is much easier to do outside than inside. They don't usually take issue with me telling them to go outside.

Sometimes we don't recognize our own needs when we are behaving a certain way. Like a kid who is overly tired but refuses to go to bed, sometimes our body is begging to get out of the house. They can always use the vitamin D too. Once they've been out for awhile, they come back inside less worked up.