Involvement in community or extracurricular activities provides terrific opportunities for your teen to develop skills, expand their interests, and stay healthy. There are many different kinds of activities available through their school or the community. Sports, dance, art, music, clubs or summer camps are just a few of the ways you child can expand their world and increase engagement with others. Talk to your teen about their interests and see how you can get them involved.
Extracurricular activities provide the opportunity to meet other teens and make new friendships. It can help your teen to interact with other peers similar in age who they might not otherwise engage with. Learning to get along with other peers from different backgrounds is a key social skill that will help your child throughout their life. It can also teach your teen to work well with others in the group settings and how to be part of a team. It’s a great way to build their confidence! Participating in community or after school activities allows teens to build different life skills.
Teens who participate in extracurricular activities tend to do better academically and will help them when applying for college. It also gives your child something to look forward to on a daily basis, teaches responsibility, develops organizational skills. Teens have the opportunity to learn how to balance their school work load with the other activities going on in their life. For some school-based activities, your child will be required to maintain a certain GPA level. As a parent, you can also require your teen to maintain good grades as a prerequisite for the community-based programs they enjoy. Using different extracurricular activities as motivation to do well in school can help your teen’s grades to improve. As a result your teen will be more disciplined and have better time management skills then other teens.
The final benefit of having your teen participate in extracurricular activities is it can help keep them out of trouble. The more time your teen spends being involved in positive activities, the less time they have to get into mischief. Teens that play sports or are part of a club or organization are also less likely to use drugs and alcohol then those not involved. Teens are mentored by and often find a positive role model in the adults that lead such activities. It is always good for a teen to have someone outside their family to look up to. Keeping your teen involved in the community will help them grow up to be responsible and engaged adults.
