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We only do one or two sports at a time. Soccer we started at 3. That's always been their favorite so even when we take a break we end up going back to it. Baseball I talked to the coaches and they said 4 is the absolute youngest but 5 is better, so we started at 5. Tennis suggested age 6, but we didn't get around to it until LO turned 7. And then there's swimming. You can do ISR before but most non-parent and me classes have a minimum age of 3.

The only thing we've done so far is the soccer program at DD's daycare. Looks like your son is about the same age as my daughter.

I'm planning to enroll her in soccer (outside of daycare) and non-parent and me swimming lessons when she's three. I've also considered putting her in gymnastics/dance around that time but it seems a lot to do at once.

We haven't started sports yet. My husband played baseball for a D1 college. His parents put him in peewee baseball or whatever at 3, and he was in organized sports from that point on to 21. He is adamant that our son won't start organized sports until he's 5-6 and that will be 1 sport at a time, and he has to want to play.

I on the other hand started park league soccer @4, played until I didn't want to at 10. Started volleyball in 6th grade and played until I was 20. I enjoyed all of my time in sports, where as my husband did not enjoy all of it (not saying he hated it, but felt more like a job than fun at various points).

All that to say, we have another few years before we see how it all goes.

DD1 is 4 and we have yet to start anything and my main thing is b/c she's already in school/daycare most of the day, I rather weekends just be more relaxing and doing fun things. I asked her multiple times if she wanted to do soccer last year b/c the town soccer program is cheap and walk-able from our house; but she kept saying no so I respected her wishes. I think this spring we're finally really going to do swim tho b/c we spend a lot of time at the pool during the summer.

We enrolled DD in a basketball class at 18 months because it said it would have bubbles, songs and an into to balls. It was dribbling and layup drills. DH and I still joke about me being an intense sports mom. DD is almost 6 and we now do weekly gymnastics through the community center. I'm pleased with the amount of sports she gets introduced to in after school care and I love that I don't have to sit through a practice.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: DS just turned 3 and so far he has done (one at a time): Music class, dance, soccer, gymnastics, and swim class. I have to say he was ok with all of them but didn’t love any 🤷‍♀️ We are taking a break until the spring or summer and I think we are going to enroll him in private swim lessons because that actually is a skill he needs whether or not he wants it

@hitchhiker: Thanks for your thoughts! His group class was also ... underwhelming. It’s hard to find a reputable private teacher though!

DS1 started swimming lessons at 3.5 and that is his only activity outside of preschool. DS2 will probably also start swimming lessons at that age. I think of signing my kids up to do more but I know they get a lot out of daycare/preschool and do not need another activity. When my eldest starts kindergarten and gets out of school earlier, I may look into him having 2 activities - it depends on his interests and our schedules.
I think if one of them seemed to show a deep interest in soccer, basketball, etc - I may sign him up sooner but at this time I do not see that deep interest.

My kid has been in gymnastics and soccer. My observation is that most of the 3 year olds tend to run around and not listen to the coach or sit in their parent’s lap for 2/3 of the class. If you are ok with that, then go for it! The kids all has fun, but it was super-frustrating for me to watch. I will wait until 4 years old with my youngest.

I didn't enroll DS in any sports until he turned 5. He was doing a ton of new stuff in day care and we figured that extracurriculars on top of that would be too much. We did try to convince him to do swimming, but he refused - said the water is too cold. Then we signed him up for gymnastics and he loves it - hopefully will do it again soon. He's also done a ton of basketball and soccer in afterschool and summer camp.

DD1, on the other hand... she's just three, but she's definitely ready to try something. She's been asking to do gymnastics with her brother for months, and now wants to do dance also. We'll probably sign her up sometime this winter.

B is almost 5 and W is 2.5. They've both been in swimming since 6 months, first parented and then when he was 4 B moved to an un-parented.

B has done gymnastics, skating, soccer, and Sportball (a 10 week class where they do a different sport each week). We let him pick what he wants to do - soccer he didn't love so we haven't done it again, everything else we've done off and on. We're currently taking a swimming break and in January he'll be doing skating, gymnastics, and Sportball.

W is currently doing gymnastics (parented), and he's done Sportball in the past (also parented) and will start that again in January. He badly wants to learn to skate so I think we'll try that once he's three and is a bit better at listening.

I really hope neither of them want to do hockey, because the practices are so early (6am practice on a Saturday!) and I don't want to have to spend all my weekends taking somebody to a hockey tournament. I'd like to them to like soccer because I played growing up, I think I might push that a little bit this summer. And I think it's important that they know how to swim so we'll consistently do that.

@irene: I don't mean to disagree with you, but I don't think that there's no fear in children under a certain age. My son is particularly cautious, which reads as fear. He just learned how to ride a bike, a few weeks before he turned 8. He literally just got on and rode off and I attribute that to just waiting until he was ready.

I think that for team sports, they just don't get it until they learn how to work cooperatively and I think that's a skill that is developed all through childhood.

My feelings are changing about this as my kids get older. My girls are 3 and 5, and take dance which isn’t a “ball” sport, but I will say it so depends on the kid. Both of my kiddos started dance at 3 and while it is true that the 3 year old class is chaotic and yes, half the class is either crying or twirling around by themselves not listening to to teacher—but my girls have THRIVED. Like, okay I am biased because they are my kids, but my kids are July and August birthdays and the dance year starts in Sept, so they tend to always be one of the youngest—and I think their focus is SO GOOD for their age. Even my second kiddo, who is my more difficult child, bless her—she loves dance and listens so well. That is, after the initial hump of the first 5 classes where she was afraid to go in alone. But we stuck it out, she got familiar with the class, she is thrilled to go now and has grown so much and it’s only December.

One other thing is my 5 year old played city rec soccer for the first time this year. We have never played soccer before, and I was assured it was a beginners league. Well, my kiddo happened to be put on a team with the next Ronaldo (is that a famous soccer player?) who AS A 5 YEAR OLD CHILD, dominated every single practice and every game and was light years above the kids. The coach had to keep taking him out because he would just score over and over if he was on the field for even 5 minutes. So her team was undefeated, she barely learned to play because her skills were so beginner compared to this kid. And I’m not griping—this kid was amazing for 5. But I chatted up his parents and he’d been doing soccer and basketball classes and camps since 4, including 6 weeks of soccer camp over the summer the past 2 summers AND they had him in an indoor class/league over the winter AND he played on another non-Rec team simultaneously. So the kid was skilled but he also had way more practice and hours to get good compared to the other kids.

So it may depend on your child’s interest and focus but also on how Tiger Parent you are. And how flexible your weekly schedule is. Shuffling kids around to classes and games is exhausting. And expensive.

I don’t think my girls have a future in soccer, so that’s not something I can see myself stretching our family thin, in terms of scheduling, over. BUT my oldest is really developing a passion for dance and singing and musical theater and I’m already plotting the course of when I’ll start her on piano lessons, when we’ll do voice lessons, which dance class she should take next, if a tumbling class would help her dance. And I’m s totally Beta personality, but SHE loves it and begs for more, and it’s so hard to say no to a kid that spends all her free time asking Alexa to play broadway soundtracks so she can sing/dance/act along. So I’m discovering I have s little Tiger mom in me too, after seeing my kid be so into something. 🤷‍♀️ You just never know.