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Out-of-school activities allow parents to combine work and family life, but they are also a gymkhana
The extracurricular activities of children is a lifeline for some fathers and mothers, who can thus finish their working day and arrive on time to pick up their children. For them, these activities are the only thing they allow reconcile work and family. For others, on the other hand, extracurricular activities are activities they do taxi driver every afternoon.
Susan Garcia and Lidia Zuriaga are two examples of mothers spending their afternoons up and down behind their daughters’ extracurricular activities. Both work, but their schedules allow them to be available to the girls after school. Susan is the mother of Alex and Mariona, both in 1st year of ESO. They study at the Sant Feliu de Cabrera de Mar (Maresme) although they live in Cabrils. Every afternoon Susan comes to pick them up at 5 p.m. “When we leave school we go home for a snack and to get dressed. Monday I take them both to tennis at 18:00 and I pick them up at 20:00 on Wednesday and Friday I take Alex to tennis at 5 : 50 pm and Mariona at 18:00 after football. Then I will fetch Mariona at 19:30 and Alex at 20:00, “says Susan hurriedly. He is happy that the extra-mural English is done at school in the afternoon.
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In the case of Lidia, her daughter Lola is in grade 5 at the New Barris Prosperity College, in Barcelona. Lola leaves school at 4:30 p.m. Her mother picks her up and they go home for a snack. Mondays and Wednesdays, at 17:30, he picks her up in English and picks her up at 19:00. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, history repeats itself with the multisport activity, though it ends here at 6 p.m. And on Fridays there is a toy library activity from 5pm to 7pm.
It is clear that extracurricular activities are experiencing an explosion. At least, that’s how it was before the pandemic. These are increasingly varied and playful activities and go far beyond sports or English. There is gardening, magic, robotics, yoga … Despite the fact that many experts recommend not to saturate the agenda of boys and girls, of the associations of fathers and mothers (ampas) they defend that it is not an increase in the school day, but the possibility that the children enjoy a time of disconnection to do things they like. In fact, the ampas worked hard to run them in the same schools, which has two major benefits for parents: convenience (and thus avoiding the figure of the taxi driver-dad) and cheaper prices.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com