Your Kids Do It, You Do It: The Latest L.A. Private Elementary School Trend

 

Looking for a new hobby? Do what your kids are doing!

“Whatever activity my kids are doing, I do it with them,” a private school mom told me recently. Right now, it’s piano and cooking, but we’ve done a lot of different things.” I can’t imagine my parents taking horseback riding lessons because that’s what my sister and I did. Fast-forward to 2012 where taking up your child’s hobby is all the rage among L.A.’s private elementary school parents.

 

When I talk to other private school moms and dads, a lot of them have interesting and sometimes unusual hobbies. But, it wasn’t until the other night at dinner where the conversation turned to our children’s resume building hobbies, that it occurred to me that many of these parents are taking up the same extracurricular activities as their kids. It’s the latest parenting trend at some of L.A.’s most popular private schools.

 

A friend of mine takes the exact same lessons as her kid, including music and poetry–with the same instructors. I’ve seen parents start surfing, snowboarding, run marathons with their kids, compete in horse shows, take violin lessons,  rock climb, start playing lacrosse, guitar and even join a rock band, because their kids are doing it. A parent at one school is practicing in his kid’s band and joined the band in the kids’ talent show at the school.

 

It’s a way to share your child’s interests, a means of staying connected in a fragmented world, where parents and kids are always rushing from school to sports to music lessons. It can reinforce a kid’s choice of activities and create a way to learn together. Maybe its even a way to be hip in our old age. Or, is it really just a thinly disguised way to helicopter parent our kids? I get the feeling some of these parents would attend school with their kids if they could.

 

I especially admire those moms and dads who step outside their comfort zones of Chanel flats and skinny jeans to try something new. Ballet for the first time as an adult? Probably easier said than done.

 

My family plays tennis. We all take lessons and sometimes we play together. It’s a lot of fun. I love how we can share an athletic activity together.

 

If all this sounds a bit too precious, maybe it is. Its definitely a luxury that a lot of private school parents have…the time and money to chase our kids’ our dreams. I, however, draw the line at tennis. My son plays soccer, football and basketball. My daughter plays guitar. You’ll never find me doing any of those things! I’ll leave them for my kids to enjoy—without me.

 

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Christina Simon: Los Angeles, California, United States I'm the mom of two kids who attended The Willows School in Culver City and Viewpoint School in Calabasas. My daughter is a graduate of Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism ('23) and my son is a sophomore at UPenn/Wharton ('26). I live in Coldwater Canyon with my husband, Barry, and our dogs. Contact me at csimon2007@gmail.com

5 thoughts to “Your Kids Do It, You Do It: The Latest L.A. Private Elementary School Trend”

  1. I took a gymnastics class at Klub Gym a few weeks ago after spending 3+ years watching my kids at their gym classes there. TOTALLY FUN. Am going to do it regularly now — pulled muscles I didn’t even know I had!

  2. You know, I totally agree. But then I realized that my daughter and I both take circus classes. True, we do different apparatuses, and we don’t take the same classes, but we train at the same school. We like sharing an interest, but without being in each others faces about it. And unless my daughter’s planning on Clown College, it’s probably not a big resume builder.

  3. I think it is important for kids to also have their own interests and activities – a place to explore who they are separate from parents, so let them have guitar and soccer and don’t feel a pang of guilt. One good family activity is plenty – tennis. The rest is for them to develop themselves and for you to support. Great post!

  4. I did a mommy/daughter hip-hop class with my daughter when she was younger. It was sooo much fun! Lately, she’s lured me into spinning. Though I didn’t join in when she took up fencing or when my son took up the trumpet. I agree, it’s good for them to have some interests of their own.

  5. Christina, I love what a positive writer you are! This post reminds me of how my mom took tennis lessons with us. It also reminds me to create common interests with my son.

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