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Our kids for sure!

I think they should try many activities but ultimately, they can choose to pursue further what they like the most. My parents never encouraged us to take on other activites besides regular school and chinese. Though I disliked chinese classes at the time, I'm happy they made me take them, thinking back as an adult.

I'm not sure. I mean, she is taking soccer in the spring because SHE LOVES SOCCER but I also bought her a soccer ball, took her to soccer games (I'm not even that into soccer, they are just being played constantly at our local park so we saw them all the time), kicked the ball around with her, etc. So, I can't exactly say it was 100% kid led. Is anything? I'm not sure at this point because she is 19 months, but I definitely encouraged it/ her interest.

I think I will encourage things I think are important (music, travel, literature, self defense or martial arts) because they have inherent positive values that I believe help people. I wouldn't discourage anything... as far as I know!

I will make some sort of activity mandatory, but I'll absolutely let them be involved in the selection process.

It's going to be both for me. I will enroll them in different things when they're younger and then as they make more of a preference known, we'll go with those activities. I want them to be exposed to different things first though before they choose only one thing: sport, instrument, science, hobby, whatever.

DH feels very strongly that LO be his own person and explore his interests whether they are interests we share/understand or not. We will help him to find things that match his interests and strengths.

@birdofafeather: This makes the most sense to me. Parents pick early activities and then kids lead when they have actual interests.

I'd let her pick and maybe make suggestions about what might be fun to try. I agree with Farawayviolot about the swimming - lessons would be mandatory until she learns how to swim decently.

I plan on starting my kids in some sort of physical activity or hobby asap. They will be too young to decide themselves. I want to encourage them to stick to it but if they get older and want to do something else, of course I will support them.

My parents didn't push me to do/stick with anything and I wish they had. Especially a sport or physical activity.

My husband is so happy his parents made him stick with music instruction and I am so sad my parents let me drop it. My stepdaughter has taken piano and violin since 5 and was told she could drop at 9 if she wanted. At 10 now, she loves it and plays for our church if the regular pianist can't be there. She loves to go to class and learn new pieces, sooooo I think I may take the same approach with LO. Swimming skills are also a must. That said, I don't think young kids need to be too involved in structured activity, so probably only 1 thing at a time.

We will pick while she's little, until she has an opinion, but a variety. I can already see her having preferences for certain things based on her play. My SIL implements a "new activity every season" (one at a time) to expose them to a variety of stuff. But God please no soccer or dance LOL. But my kids have to do SOMETHING active. If they start something, they have to finish it. I probably wouldn't have ever been interested in softball had my parents not put my brother in it, for example. Sometimes I think parents do have to nudge a little

Growing up my mom let us decide and I have all these pics of me in Ballet when I was younger and then it stopped - I asked my mom why and she said "because you didn't want to do it anymore so I took you out!" I was like "what? you should have made me do it!!!" LOL

I didn't do anything on my choosing until High School and then became a cheerleader.

Then I had kids - I always ask if they want to do something and if they say yes, I sign them up. I do expect them to finish 1 season and after that they can quit.

As of now neither of my kids want to do any activities and I am letting them take the lead.

@Mrs. Jump Rope: According to Wikipedia, the age of reason is also when a a person begins to have moral responsibility (thus why they are able to receive sacraments). Young kids who do not have the use of reason are called "innocents" because of their inability to commit sins: even if their actions are objectively sinful, they lack capacity for subjective guilt.

I think until a kid is older--seven or eight or nine--they don't have the reasoning capacity to choose what instrument to learn or weigh the pros and cons of joining in a certain activity.

Kid picks. But they have to follow through. D wanted to play basketball this winter but isn't liking it. He has to finish the season, though, because his teammates need him. He doesn't have to play again next year. He wants to take tae kwon do after the season is over. I will let him explore his interests as much as I can afford it.

Mostly her. Though I imagine in the next couple of years, it'll be more us suggesting activities for her and seeing how she likes them. When she gets older she can do what she likes, as long as it's not expensive!

@Mrs. Jump Rope: The Catholic Encyclopaedia confirms it:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01209a.htm

It's in the Code of Canon Law.

"A minor before the completion of the seventh year is called an infant and is considered not responsible for oneself (non sui compos). With the completion of the seventh year, however, a minor is presumed to have the use of reason." [Catholic Code of Canon Law # 97 §2]

Consider yourself schooled.

@Skadi: you do realize that is EXACTLY what I said, right? And you just proved yourself wrong?

You quoted one line to justify your argument, but if anyone else took the time to read the entire piece they'd understand: at age seven, a catholic child will make his or her reconciliation, which is when we are considered old enough to understand ("reason") right from wrong, and confess our sins. "Innocent" people are those who cannot distinguish right from wrong, and is a term usually reserved for the mentally disabled.

In modern time, as the article goes on to explain, it isn't age 7 that is associated with age of reason but puberty - typically age 13, because we are in 8/9 grade when we make confirmation and are seen as adults in the Catholic Church.

BOOM, mic drop.

DD1 is still young so I'm choosing for her to get her out and about with other kids (right now she's doing toddler ballet). Swimming and taekwondo will be musts. She will get to choose what instrument and sport to take.

I'm going with the cop-out answer and saying Both.

She's enrolled in swim class right now because I think swimming should be a mandatory skill for safety purposes. I'm glad she loves it!

I asked her what she'd like to try next, and threw out some suggestions for her - dance, soccer, gymnastics, art - and she picked gymnastics. So we'll likely give that a shot next, but if she doesn't like it after a season or two we can try something else.

Piano and Chinese may be two other mandatory ones eventually. I think kids can grow to love and appreciate classes if encouraged the right way.

There are some activities I see more as hobbies, and others I see as skills that should be pursued and honed. I don't know any kid growing up that enjoyed learning Chinese or practicing piano, but parents have foresight that kids don't always have.

I just think there should be a balance. I was allowed to give up everything I ever tried, and my maturity levels weren't quite there at the time to understand why certain things would be beneficial for me. I just gave up because I "didn't feel like it anymore" or was lazy and wanted to do other things, like play with my friends or watch tv. For the longest time I was so non-commital about a lot of things - if I came across any challenge I'd just give up. Took awhile to reverse that mindset!

I have a 2.5 year old so I'm not sure how relevant my answers will be ... but .. I signed her up for Little Gym as a 18 month old last winter because I needed her to have an outlet during the cold months. She loved it. I try to go by her interests. I thought she would like music classes, so I took her to a few free music class introductory classes and she wasn't interested. But she LOVES her ballet classes. When she's a little older, I will probably put her in gymnastics or continue ballet since she loves those activities. Maybe art classes since she's an artsy fartsy crafts girl. Sports? I think I'll let her try a lot of things and see what she's interested in. But I'm probably going to force piano on her just so she can read sheet music. She can quit if she TRULY hates it, but my kid will be able to read sheet music.