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When my mom finally decided to take that plum posting as a Divisional
Head, I knew I was in trouble. Her office hours stretched way beyond my
school hours. And anyway, I was privy to the many discussions my parents had about ‘Honey, what do we do with the kids?’ Well, finally they struck gold - an educational after school program. Won’t that be just grand? Kids are learning new things while parents are happily minting greenbacks!

And so, we went directly to another class after our school. The brochure
said that they would be ‘using fun activities and innovative teaching
methods to fill the gap in your child’s understanding’. I suppose they
meant that the teacher would write down the homework and we were to copy it. At least, this is what happened most of the time. Of course, we didn’t tell our parents. How would that help? They’d simply get smart and shift us to a class that would actually make us solve our homework.

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There is often a trap in the words ‘after school activities’. One may easily believe that since these activities are after school, they are not of much importance. But, one couldn’t be more wrong. Research suggests that children pick up some of their most important skills from after school programs. That is why children who do not participate in any extra curricular activities are generally slow and less vibrant.

The learning environment that one fosters in after school activities must be as disciplined and as functional as that found in the school. This is
especially true of educational after school programs. This is the best
place to teach the child important skills like time-management and goal
setting. Time-management is a vital skill, but it is not achieved easily.
Children need to feel the discipline that is needed to finish a task and
the happiness of finishing the allotted work in a specific time frame.

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What marks a successful after school program? What are the things that youshould look for when enrolling your child into one such program? Other than the obvious advantage of learning something new, successful programs incorporate many things that help the development of the child.

Development of social skills is one of the more important objectives of a
good after school program. In a recent survey, parents indicated that
while they do want their children to respect others, they also wanted them
to imbibe skills like getting along with other children and getting used
to children outside the immediate circle of friends. Many children find it
difficult to make new friends and get along with people outside their
group.

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In an effort to keep children motivated and safe, the U.S. Government
sets aside a good amount of fund for financing after school programs every year. A report by the U.S. Department of Education and Justice points out that after school programs are very effective and is in the interests of the society as a whole. Interestingly, it was found that Americans liked providing school-based after school-programs in their community.

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After school programs can be divided into 3 broad categories: academic,
recreational and social. Balanced development takes place when there is
compatibility between the physical, mental as well as the educational
achievements of the child.As the name suggests recreational after school
programs are based on a sport or recreation. Some of the more common
physical activities include football, swimming and basketball.Some clubs
offer programs like gymnastics, trekking and hiking. In this case,
youngsters are often given a short class in first-aid class also.

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In a world that is slowly but surely turning away from books and getting
glued to monitors or television screens, the importance of developing a
passion for reading cannot be overlooked. Reading is a habit and should be
established when the child is relatively young. What can you do to foster
this habit?

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With the growing interest in after school programs shown by the Governmentas well as parents, new and hitherto unheard of programs are being explored. In an attempt to make a child aware of his responsibilities as an individual and as a citizen, these after school programs make use of a child’s natural curiosity and his irrepressible energy.

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With children becoming the primary focus of society, ways and means to
ensure their safety and development are being researched. The Government too has pooled in to make a success of such programs. Here are some of the reasons why after school programs have become so popular:

1) Preventing Juvenile Delinquency, crime and violent victimization:
About 10% of juvenile crimes happen between 3 P.M. - 4 P.M. Children need to be kept safe and out of trouble at such times

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Several studies are expressing a growing concern that after school
programs are pressurizing kids to do too much too soon. They point out
that when a child’s afternoon is filled with classes, trips, sports and
other forms of organized activities, kids do not really get the time to be
just kids. They are even being deprived of the cherished family time.

Undoubtedly, there are children who are being burdened with a schedule
that places too much demand on their time. This leads to increased levels
of stress on the child and the family. As regular studies cannot be
ignored, children are almost always on the run to achieve more. Such
children are really bearing a burden that is too heavy for their frail
little shoulders.

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When children are literally up to their gills with the learning and sport
activities in school, it may seem superfluous to enroll them for after
school activities. In spite of this, after school programs are sprouting
up in large numbers and most of these are booked full. This shows that
there is a real need for after school activities.

The unavailability of parental supervision is the leading cause for the
surge in after school programs. It is seen that many children spend about
20-25 hours a week unsupervised and alone at home. And as the saying
goes, "An idle mind is a devil’s workshop". Children who are left alone
to contend with too much free time invariably fall into the wrong
company. Drug abuse, alcohol, tobacco and crime come knocking at their
doors sooner rather than later. Parents enroll children to various after
school programs to keep them occupied in a productive manner. This way, the kids are free to enjoy themselves in a supervised activity.

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