Every child develops physically, emotionally and mentally at a pace different from each other. However, studies have proven that different extracurricular activities do help speed up a child’s development at a faster pace while exposing them to myriad experiences that help to serve as character building blocks in later life.
Of extreme importance in the budding years, extracurricular activities lead to new thoughts, self-awareness, and acquisition of necessary life-skills — Virtues they would otherwise not have acquired.
So, as a conscientious parent, if you’re keen on developing the overall personality of your child, here below, are the significant skills that your child will pick up when he/she participates in extracurricular activities.
To think outside the box
Perhaps the most obvious of acquired skills, extracurricular activities enable children to think outside the box and teaches them to do things differently. It exposes them to different situations and gently persuades them to think from varied perspectives.
While in the midst of an extracurricular activity, children get the opportunity to explore a range of interests and unlock passions they never knew they had. Needless to say, extracurricular activities help children broaden their horizons like never before.
Social Interaction Opportunities
Let’s be honest, making friends can be hard, but when the challenge comes in the form of electronic gadgets, video games, and television, making friends becomes doubly difficult.
However, with the regular engagement of extracurricular activities, it becomes one of the easiest things to do.
Each co-curricular activity that you engage your child in, provides him/her with the opportunity to expand on their social network. Something even you, as a parent, will appreciate, as new friendships via parent-to-parent interactions also get forged.
Additionally, when children make friends at their extracurricular activity class, they are also more likely to get deeply engaged and involved.
For example, if your child makes a few friends while doing community service at school, he/she might decide to start a volunteer club and make an impact in the community he/she lives in!
Self-esteem
Let’s say that your child is exceptionally good at drawing and the teachers at the extracurricular activity class encourage the child to participate in competitions.
Egged on by this show of support, the child happily joins the rest of the team and starts training for national and international competitions — An experience that assuredly gives the child outstanding exposure to the world around.
In this case, irrespective of whether the child wins or not, the process helps him/her realize just how talented they really are, and, in turn, encourages them to work harder towards their goal.
The more they achieve success through activities they are really passionate about, the more self-confidence they have.
And once their self- esteem gets a boost, the more ‘open to risks’ their mindset becomes. Besides, learning these kinds of aptitudes become valuable for the rest of the child’s life and helps them to learn to deal with pressure.
University Applications
Truth be told, it’s pretty much impossible to get admission in any university outside of India without having learned some kind of extracurricular activity. Universities abroad like to see that the student has gone above and beyond in their intended area of study, has made a difference and/or excelled in their chosen field.
For instance, if your child wants to major in chemistry, any given university in the UK is more likely to accept your child if he/she has joined a chemistry club, taken extra chemistry courses at their local university and volunteered in a lab.
Although that sounds like a lot, extracurricular activities are even more important to universities in the US. So remember to think long-term, not short.
Essential Life Skills
On top of all of the benefits of extracurricular activities we have already talked about, one of the greatest advantages of extracurricular activities is that it teaches your child “real world” skills.
These skills include (but are not limited to):
- Goal setting
- Teamwork
- Time management
- Prioritization
- Problem-solving
- Analytical thinking
- Leadership
- Public speaking
The more your child pushes forward in extracurricular endeavors, the more they’ll develop these skills.
For eg. If the student is passionate about coding, he/she might be interested in joining the school coding club, where they’ll develop teamwork, problem-solving and analytical thinking skills.
But with an extracurricular class, the student could take that passion even further and create their very own coding club, where they will learn goal setting, time management, prioritization, leadership, and public speaking skills.
Nurture the leader in your child
Going beyond the rote learning mentality, SSVM World School has proven to be one of the best cbse schools in Coimbatore as it has laid the greatest emphasis on extracurricular activities from the day of inception.
Encouraging its students to try their hand at a range of extracurricular activities, and discover what they are really good at, SSVM World School teaches children to pursue their life’s calling and be leaders in their chosen sphere!
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