Scottish Parent Teacher Council

MY YOUNG nephews rang up in great excitement the other day. The very week they moved house they had successfully tried out for the local football club.

While the moving boxes remained unpacked, the boys’ parents knew that the key to making them feel settled was to arrange for them to continue their favourite hobby.

And Tom and Joe aren’t alone. There’s never been a wider variety of classes and activities for kids to pursue when the school day is over.

Whereas 30 years ago the capital’s dance schools might have offered ballet with a bit of jazz if you were lucky, they’re now putting wannabe hip hop stars through their paces.

You can even give your five-year-old a head start in the jobs market with computing classes or a bit of French or German. And traditional art and music lessons have been joined by opportunities to learn to paint on ceramics or play in steel bands.

In fact, with such a lot on offer, it’s hard to imagine how the little darlings have time to go to school.

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teachers Council, is a big fan of extra-curricular activity - provided it’s what the children want and doesn’t take over their lives.

But she has this warning. "You’ve got to give kids time to breathe," she says. "You can’t keep them so occupied that they don’t have a spare minute. It’s important that they have time to be bored."

It’s best to take your cue from the children, she says, rather than force them to do something you might like them to do but which they find a pain.

"My own two kids got interested in basketball in primary and carried on with it all through university," she says.

"It meant they had a hobby they enjoyed, made friends outside school with the same interest and, when they were working hard at exams and so on, it meant they could release energy playing basketball, but it’s important that it was an interest they found for themselves so we then had to research where they could do it."

In these days where the latest health war is being waged on childhood obesity, surely sports-related after-school activity is a good thing? Not if you don’t like it.

There are plenty of other activities that get kids moving, use up energy and improve their physical confidence, even if they don’t want to participate in team sports. One option is dance. There are classes in so many different types that there must be something to suit lots of interests and budgets.

At Dance Base in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, for example, there are classes for toddlers to teenagers covering a wide range of skill levels. As well as the more traditional forms, such as ballet, Dance Base even offers Gumboot classes. As the name suggests, it involves (at its most basic) stomping around in wellies - very rhythmically of course.

As Jennie Gardner of Dance Base explains, the classes, at about Ł3 a time, are relatively accessible and the equipment needed is minimal. "For gumboots you need wellies," she laughs. "But for hip hop we say to wear indoor trainers. Of course the kids like expensive trainers but they don’t have to be. And some of the classes you can do barefoot." Dance Base also runs outreach programmes in schools and nurseries where the classes can be free.

It’s a question of tapping in to what children want and offering classes that keep their interest. "When they get older they want to branch out a bit," says Gardner. "Street dance is popular - they want to do what they see on pop videos."

From ballet to hip hop, however, she says dance has a real impact. "We’ve had great feedback from teachers and carers saying it improves behaviour in class. It teaches social skills, things like taking turns. In teenagers it builds physical confidence and it means they make friends out of school."

Some activities can also give children a head start in the workplace - or even help you attract praise from the boss. There are now classes for computer-mad kids that they can begin even before they start school. If that sounds a bit too much like hard work, then think again. "It’s not about sitting learning from a book, you know, says Sandy Robertson, director of Futurekids in Morningside. "The courses are fun and designed to switch children on."

By the time they get to 12 or 13, some of Robertson’s students are gaining adult computer qualifications, which can only help them at school. And it has knock-on benefits for mum and dad, too. Who doesn’t know someone who’s had a PowerPoint presentation put together by their children or, even more scarily, their grandchildren? "Some of the kids get paid by their parents for doing business databases," laughs Robertson. "But they enjoy it or they wouldn’t keep coming back."

There are lots of ways to find classes that might interest your child. The internet is a good start, as are local authorities, which often run a range of activities, many subsidised.

City of Edinburgh Council runs a number of after-school programmes, including Sporting Chance, which gives primary pupils a taster of sports they might not have tried before, like cricket or athletics. There’s also an initiative to offer Saturday morning recorder and violin classes.

Councillor Rev Ewan Aitken, executive member for Children and Families, says: "We see the value extra-curricular activities can bring to young people. They are an important part of school life and add to the ethos and aspirations of the school."

With such a lot of choice, it’s no wonder that some mums and dads (who get landed with ferrying the kids to each activity, not to mention footing the bill) can get a bit frazzled.

According to Gillespie, parents should be firm about not allowing too many out-of-school activities.

Exciting line-up of things to do