As school begins for the year, so do sport practices, drama classes and music lessons. Lochlan Lineham finds out what’s on offer and how families make it work.
Out-of-school activities can be expensive but parents who spoke to the Herald for our Back to School series thought the benefits were well worth it.
For Jodie Peters, a mother of two boys on Auckland’s North Shore, the payback was what her sons got out of it.
“The whole brotherhood, that mental health, that fresh air ... whether it’s sport or some sort of activity, it’s so good for them to get out.”
She has one son going into his last year of school this year and one who finished recently.
The eldest, Lucas Peters, took part in cricket, rugby, hockey, rowing, and lacrosse at school, while Mitchell Peters did both indoor and outdoor cricket.
Sarah Ostergaard said the many sports her three children have tried have helped them gain new skills and aided them in discovering things they enjoyed doing.
"It enhances everything in their life for the now and also in the future.
“They tend to gravitate towards one thing in particular that they like, but we do still try to encourage them to try lots of different activities to just broaden their physical attributes and learning activities.”
Most extra-curricular activities come with a price tag. For those with sporty children, a standard team sport at school can cost between $100-$200 for a season, while club sports can cost as much as $200-$300 a season, depending on age.
For the creatively inclined, drama clubs across Auckland cost around $200 a school term.
One-on-one music lessons can run between $25-$80 a lesson, while group sessions cost about $200 a term.
Ostergaard said she spent $600-700 annually on after-school sport for her three children.
Cara Roberts used to take her 11-year-old son Aaron Roberts to karate, which turned out to be harder than she expected.
Roberts told the Herald that balancing a $150 a week cost of karate lessons while she was on a benefit was a tough challenge.
“It’s definitely not a cost that’s easy to manage.”
The single mother also didn’t have a car, which forced them both to rush around Auckland on public transport.
A bus to their Mt Wellington home from Panmure Bridge School, a quick change, another bus to Ellerslie Township and a walk to the dojo often left the pair out of sorts.
“We’d turn up with bright red cheeks, flustered and, yeah, in some sort of panic, thinking we’re going to be late. So it was not the easiest thing ever.”
The difficult logistics of getting her son to after-school activities were a “huge deterrent”, but perseverance helped get Roberts through, she told the Herald.
“I guess, as a parent, you just do it, especially if it’s something that your kid wants to do”.
Now that Aaron “didn’t quite take” to the martial art, Roberts was looking into swimming for her son, which would cost between $200-300 a school term.
The centre which she and Aaron were looking at joining is within walking distance from his school, which would make getting to lessons easier, Roberts said.
Peters found carpooling with other parents in her son’s sports teams was a good way to make travel demands easier.
“The last thing you want is everybody to be going from the same street or the same suburb to the same place at the same time.”
Ostergaard seconded Peters’ advice, saying that carpooling was a help getting her three children to their several after-school activities during the year.
“For example, netball on a Monday, we would join with another family and we would car-ride together.”
Living on the North Shore’s Stanley Bay, Lake Rd can make getting in and out a nightmare, so trying to keep as local as possible with the clubs her kids join has helped make the demands more manageable.
Thursday: Transport
Friday: After-school activities