My kiddo tried baby ballet at 3yo but when I asked her if she wanna continue, ayaw na daw nya. Then past 3 summers, swim class naman nakahiligan. Now looking if we can do this regularly, year round.
How about your kids?
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Funny story. We enrolled our daughter sa baby ballet class sa UP CHK when she was around 3yo. Ayaw na ayaw niyang pumapasok. On the 3rd session, we learned the reason. Takot siya sa hitsura ng teacher niya, kasi laging naka black tapos naka full on makeup si Teacher, with eyeliner and all. 
Hindi na siya pumasok after that and has refused to enroll in any ballet class after. Hindi naman na daw siya traumatized now when we talk about it.
She did swimming classes for 3 summers rin but her school did the calendar shift so summer’s over by the time “summer vacation” na nila.
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My eldest is into ballet, theater, guitar, arts & craft, cross stitch and cooking.
My youngest is into roblox, youtube, netflix, procreate, baking and ukulele
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@mimi had the same issue sa swim class last year, last 4 weeks nalang so na extend kame ng every sat until august. Wanted to continue but coach said break muna 
@Popoy_God my kiddo says she wants to become a baker pero ako naman talaga nagbabake, how old is your youngest if I may ask?
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@AvA my youngest is turning nine this September. Ganyan rin kami sa simula, then paunti-unti hinahayaan ko na sya 
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Now, wala. We just let him run and run around the playground.
Naka-ilang free trial kami ng gymnastics class for babies and my son is pasaway. He likes it though but I agree with the teachers he’s still too young to pay attention.
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10 year old: baby ballet din nung 2/3 (done), soccer at 5 (done), piano lessons at 9/10 (still interested in continuing kaso wala kaming mahanap pang private tutor), girls scouts 9/10 (continuing) tapos ngayon she’s into jiu jitsu (loving it)
5 year old: piano lessons, she just started, we’ll see kung anong kahahantungan nito lol
2 year old: wala pa
They took swim lessons all together last summer. Enjoy yung panganay at bunso more than my 5 yo. Plan to do this again this year.
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@vaninay baka another year, hit or miss din minsan based nung kabataan ko 
pinabayaan nalang ako magbasa ng magbasa cos I don’t enjoy any lessons nun.
@Jane fun swim lessons no 
may mom nga dun kasama nya 4 kids nya. Parang gusto ko din kase di ako marunong mag swim. My kiddo’s dad plays soccer and is a coach now so isang option ko pa but oldies kase tinuturuan nun.
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It was! Water babies mga anak ko and I can’t swim either lagi nga akong binibigyan ng hassle ni @whims so sabi ko sige basta kayong lahat marunong para sagipin na lang ninyo ako kung saka-sakali 
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Hirap na hirap ako ienrol sa extra curricular activities ang anak ko kasi 2 lang kami sa bahay, and I’m working full time. Walang tagahatid sundo. 
But she’s into drawing/making her own OC characters sa gacha. She also writes backstories, scripts, etc.
Kapag may time ako, we go to the clubhouse for swimming. Water baby eh, maliit pa lang mabilis matuto lumangoy. Every year, we go on a surfing break coz she loves to surf
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Same problem @ninibeLLes . Kung marunong lang magdrive mom ko e so I need to be around talaga for her swimming lessons but her swim school which is CAL di naman regular classes, yung merong regular classes naman pagkalayo layo or weekdays. Suko na ako.
@Jane yan din bilin ko sa anak, save mommy nalang ha mommy can only float
Buti ka nga ate @AvA nakaka float ka haha. Kiddo would always say, “oh yung paddle board mo po baka makalimutan mo” 
kasi nga di ako marunong lumangoy haha!
Gusto ko sana siya ienrol sa sports kaso lahat ng program weekends! May pasok ako ng weekends haaaay
Yung panganay namin showed inclination towards music when he was around 4/5. My Yamaha keyboard from when I was young (hindi ko din nagamit masiyado bec I really did not enjoy the piano lessons) was still working and he was just tapping keys here and there which we thought was just him playing. Then one day he told us, “Mama, pakinggan mo ito…” then proceeded to play the opening tunes to Mr Bean’s show.
I tried to teach him notes but he does not like it and I get frustrated easily so we decided to leave it with the pros. We enrolled him at Lyric and we were lucky that he was matched with a young teacher, who respected and worked on my son’s musical gifts to play by ear. He encouraged him to watch others play piano (on Youtube mostly) as my son can easily copy just by watching. Same teacher also nourished my son’s interest in guitar. My panganay is now 15 and he’s got 3 different bands and plays the piano, guitar and drums. He’s also comfortable with other musical instruments and had been creating songs and uploading them on Soundcloud.
Other than music, he’s been interested in swimming kahit na nung baby siya takot na takot sa malakas na alon ng Bicol. We enrolled him for swimming lessons sa village namin (he’s around 7 or 8) and the teacher made him part of the village’s swim team na pinanglalaban sa ibang villages. He got a gold and a bronze medal on his first competition. Tuwang tuwa kaming mag-asawa kasi neither of us is a swimmer, mahilig lang kami sa dagat talaga. He never competed again though kasi chill talaga itong bata na ito and he’s not competitive at all. He didn’t like din daw yung too early na schedule (summer nga naman kasi and he likes to play), though he still had a few summers na nagswimming lessons siya together with the bunso.
Our panganay also showed inclination towards art so we enrolled him and the bunso sa CFA for a summer class. Naenjoy naman niya but he didn’t pursue drawing much until nitong higher grades na siya. He likes designing houses, he plays with SketchUp and enjoys making model houses from scratch.
He’s also into photography. I had a Diana-mini lomo camera when he was young and he was so curious about it, even sa digital camera ng Papa niya. I was so scared masira niya iyong mga iyon so we bought him a camera of his own na simple lang gamitin plus mura (wasn’t able to factor in na mahal pala yung photo paper that is compatible with it). A few years after, nahilig sa DSLR yung brother in law ko and had left with our panganay one of his older cameras. He got hooked and since digital, he has no gastos on films kaya okay na rin. Until now, he loves taking snaps of city sunsets, people and random signs and playing with filters to make the colors pop or make it more dramatic (teenagers).
We do not adhere to a strict summer class since he was young because we feel it’s their time to play and be free to do whatever they want. If they show interest on something, we support. We continue to offer ideas on what would be of benefit to them (like gulay every meal, hahaha) and they’re expected to TRY it BEFORE saying no. We’ve planned on archery and cooking lessons this summer sana but dahil sa Covid-19, baka hindi pa din matuloy.
As for the bunso who is 6 years younger, monkey see, monkey do; kung anong trip ng kuya, yun ang ginagaya so he was swimming too (quite good as well and still not competitive tulad ng kuya) and trying to play with the piano, drum pad, harmonica and flute at home but hindi siya gifted sa music. He has his own digital camera too and would take photos of our cat, his yaya, his family and friends. His gift though is in the kitchen, he loves food and cooking. Mas comfortable pa siya sa kitchen kesa sa akin.
He’s a maker too. He likes making stuff out of tissue rolls, boxes, paper. Lately, paper guns ang trip niya buuhin and these are size ng actual Nerf guns na malalaki.
Because of the quarantine, the kids’ are expected on a daily basis to read up on their chosen book upon waking up, vacuum the floor (we have a hairy cat) and mop, water the seedlings they planted, take a bath BEFORE they get their PS4/iPad privilegess na 2 hrs per day. After that, they usually play basketball in our front yard before doing Netflix or napping. Minsan they beg for house or garden chores kasi may equivalent na screentime reward. 
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@gugs any pointers to keep them interested? Pansin ko sa anak ko paiba iba gusto though it stays within the same things but hinde nagtatagal. Like between swimming and arts, may times preferred nya one from the other. I just let her though, ayoko din pilitin.
Do you guys believe na namamana ang “talents”? my dad draws well but untrained and my sis went to FA sa UPD. Then my kiddo’s paternal lola is an FA prof and her tita is in the theater and though she’s not exposed pa sa theater she enjoys dancing/singing/acting in front of the mirror then she likes to paint. Di daw mana sa akin
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@AvA, ganon din kami, we let them be. To get them interested, pag maliit pa mas madali i-expose to different things kesa pag tween na since lagi naming kasama lumabas. Yung teener namin ang maraming alam na dahilan kung may gusto/ayaw na activity.
To maintain the interest, depende sa commitment na papasukin eh. For swimming lessons, bata pa sila they were trained na naming mag-asawa na before mag-enrol, sasabihin na sa kanila what they are getting into - duration nung lessons, anong oras dapat nasa pool na, etc. If they agree, enrol. If hindi kaya makacommit, hindi. If we truly like the activity for them, we push them to try with bribe ng eat out/some reward at the end. Hahaha.
Take it slow lang. Invest/enrol ng short term pag first time lang. If they truly like it, extend. Ganon nangyari sa boys. Swimming lessons tinatapos talaga nila every summer (no absences unless may sakit sila or may lakad kami) to the point na they go on their own na sa village pool ng sarili with their own gear na prinipare din nila.
For the piano lessons ng panganay nung bata pa siya, he’s really enjoying it so siya talaga yung nagreremind na idrive siya to Cubao from Fairview.
Nagkaroon ng test recently on this commitment thing when the panganay who’s 15 now got into the basketball team ng school niya. Later part of the school year, he was asking me to lie for him na may lakad kami para hindi siya magtraining one Saturday. I asked why he does not want to train. Pagod daw kasi siya dahil halos 4x a week na ang training nila after school and he has band practice for their upcoming recording. Told him he had signed up for this commitment and he should show up kahit pagod and that he has to adjust his band’s activities to cater acads and school activities first. He adjusted his sched and went. Few days after, I met a co-parent and turns out the kids were just supposed to train 2-3 times a week. I felt guilty and talked to my son that he has option naman pala na mag-no if 4th day of training na. He said okay na kasi naadjust naman daw niya sched niya at natutulog na siya ng maaga para nakakarecover daw siya from the previous day. Naks di ba?
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Given the situation nowadays, one main thing ng mga kids ko from me is tabletop games. Gives us the chance to interact with each other.
I’m hoping that it’d help sharpen their analytical skills din.
Next to that eh it’d be me running them through the process of doing chores that I feel they’re ready for na.
Otherwise, if left to decide on their own, puro gadget/screen based malamang sila.
The elder one likes to read. So there is that.
The young girl is a maker. Likes to draw/craft.
Kinda looking at some sort of program that may work towards shaping her skills/talent in that area.
Pero wala pang nakita
Panganay is into art. She loves to draw and getting good at it. She draws mostly manga-style. So we feed that by getting her art supplies but the more expensive ones, we teach her to save up for it. She’s also into sewing and crafting. She made puppets (because she got inspired with the docu “Being Elmo” on Netflix), her own purse/handbag, and countless others.
She loves to read, too. Devours her books one after the other. So much so that we allocated book allowance for her every month. She has read the whole How to Train Your Dragon series when she was in 3rd Grade, then finished the entire Harry Potter series from February until May last year. Now she’s on her 3rd Rick Riordan book series (1st series is Percy Jackson, 2nd series is Heroes of Olympus, and the third series is Trials of Apollo).
Second kid naman is into bugs, critters, sea creatures, and lately dinosaurs. She loves watching documentaries on Netflix (Our Planet, Dancing with Birds, Chasing Coral, Sharks). We got her flip books of different themes. She prefers open-ended toys like blocks and animal figurines. Today she built her first dinosaur made out of Lego Duplo.
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Yah, I was pleasantly surprised to see my kid inherited his dad’s talent. My hubby went to phil high school for the arts, tapos UP Dil fine arts, visual comm. He can draw, paint, makes a living as a graphics designer.
My kid now draws almost everyday, and he’s very good at it.
I make the kids try everything at least once. I’ve sent them to baking lessons, swimming, soap making, tennis, they did fencing for years, coding and game development, entrepreneurship courses, exposed them to ballet, theater, music lessons, science camps, photography, art class, whatever.
Yung swimming, non-negotiable yun, survival skill sya. They didn’t exactly love it but I forced them to learn it, at least maging competent swimmers.
On their own they love minecraft and roblox. Nagugulat ako when they play, when I hear them talk, they sound like little programmers. Ang cute! Someday sila ang magiging IT support ko.