Stay or Go at Sports/dance Classes

I do both.
Sometimes I stay.
Sometimes I leave and do my errands.
My kids are 6 and 10.
I also do sometimes stay, because, I want to see with my own eyes... how my kids are coming along in their sport/class/activity and what they might need to work on if anything.
At my kids classes, the parents are allowed to stay. And many do.
Even the parents of the older kids.
My kids like when I stay and see them... and their progress.

I do both. I'll stay for a game, leave for a practice. I'll stay if I have no other place to be and it's too far to go home. I'll leave if there is no place for spectators or if I would be a distraction or in the way.

My kids are 5 and 3 and both take gymnastics. I managed to get their classes back to back, which is way easier in the long run, but that means we have to hang out in the small waiting area for 2 hours! I will sometimes drop off the 5 year old (who is first) and go run a quick errand while she is in class. I try and be back to at least watch part of hers because she likes me to see what she's doing. Most other parents of the preschool to K aged kids stay, but it seems some of the older kids moms come and go. I think mostly it's a convenience thing as the class is only 50 minutes and it's hard to get much done and get back on time.

I think if your kids' practices are an hour or more, it's perfectly fine to drop and shop! If they are sad by the fact that you're no longer watching, maybe try and make one a week or something.

I believe at our martial arts studio it is in the contract we have to stay for the class.

I am sure if there is an injury they want the parent right there to decide on what medical steps to take.

We have been going there three years...I do sometimes leave my oldest for his class, so I can go home and start dinner...my husband does pick up on his way home from work. The classes I always stay for is when my older child is sparring or taking a weapons class. I don't leave the younger one ever, but she is only in Kinder.

In our dance studio parents are not allowed to watch the class. Even the parents of the 3 year old kids don't stay. Almost all the kids who are in gymnastics get dropped off too. Very few parents want to sit there.

As far as I understand it most parents will drop their kids off and won't even come in.

In my experience most parents only really stay at the preschool/K level stuff. By age 6 or 7 it's usually fine (and often encouraged) that parents don't hang around. It's a distraction for the kids and makes it harder for the coaches/instructors to do their job.
Of course there will always be parents who INSIST on staying, they are often the ones gossiping on the sidelines and complaining the loudest. Yet another reason not to hang around!

I don't stay unless there is no time to go home! Usually I stay because the class is only 30 minutes or an hour.

I usually try to sign up at places with a gym so when the kids are doing their stuff, I am working out.

Our ballet studio is about 25 minutes from our house, so if it's a short class, I stay only because of the distance involved. But my older daughter has class on Saturday from 8:30am - 1pm, and for that, I drop her off. She is certainly able to get herself from class to class without any direction from me (she's 10). As long as the kids are in a place where a responsible adult is in charge, and access to the area is limited (i.e. people have to go past a front desk to get into the lobby) then I'm okay with leaving them.

I always stayed at Tae Kwon Do. The one time I didn't I went to the library to drop off books. I had a wreck and had to scramble forces to pick up.

This year I usually stay just because they moved the studio to a place where it's not really close to anything I need to do so it's not really worth dropping them off. Most parents drop their kids off because the parking lot isn't big enough for everyone to stay.

I stay at all the games becasue of course I want to see them play. Once they were about 6 or 7 I started to drop off for practice most of the time. The coaches have the parents' numbers for an emergency and, like you said, it is a chance to grocery shop or run errands. It give the kids a little independance too!

My son is five and so far, I always stay at his soccer and baseball practices. I'm friends with all the moms on the team, so it's kind of a social thing for me too. most of us also have younger children who play together during the practices. I think in the next couple of years I will probably start dropping him off instead. For a dance or gymnastics class, where it's inside, I'd also probably make about age six for doing dropoff instead of staying.

I drop off my 9 year old for dance. I have an hour to go grocery shopping across the street. I have also dropped her off for piano occasionally, but I prefer to stay there and listen and read. For my 7 year old son, I never drop him off. We always stay, even when it's a four hour hockey lesson. Cold and long, but I want to be there to watch him and be there in case anything happens. When he's around 9 I'm sure I'll start dropping him off at soccer and maybe hockey to run errands. At age 7, they still seem too little to leave in my opinion. That said, there is usually one or two kids on each team, who get dropped off. Come to think of it, at hockey there are way more kids out there on the ice than there are parents watching, so they must drop off there too. The kids are all 6,7,8 in hockey.

I never drop when it is an actual game or other "event", but for daily type practices, then yes, I do. Regularly.

I can remember when I started dropping off my son at his karate class... I never had really had a reason not to stay and watch (the classes were only 45 minutes) until my daughter started gymnastics. Her gymnastics class started 15 minutes after his karate class (and was right around the corner a street over). He was in 4th grade, she was in 1st. I dropped him off (watched him go into the building) then drove daughter to gymnastics. I stayed with her for the first 20 minutes of her class, then left and drove back around the block to pick up son. Then returned WITH him to pick her up as her class was getting out a few minutes after that.

Once I started doing that, it occurred to me that I could be getting a lot of stuff done (grocery shopping!) when he was in class 2x a week. So, when she stopped gymnastics, I started dropping him off and going to the grocery store and then coming back to get him with a couple minutes to spare before his class ended. As he got older (and the classes sometimes ran later and later--beyond the "scheduled" time...) I started timing my grocery trips so that I picked him up "late" (so that I was certain he was ready to go so my frozen stuff stayed that way for the trip home).

Now, they both are in karate classes. Not the SAME class, though, yet. He is a 2nd degree black belt and is 14 years old in 9th grade. She is 6th grade, and 11 years old. They have been attending the same karate school for years and are VERY comfortable there. In fact, everyone there knew her before she was a student, by virtue of the many years of her sitting watching her brother. The instructors are fine with them hanging out before/after class until I get there. They play on their ipods or talk quietly with friends (inside the training room--while other classes are going on) or read a book. Sometimes they assist in other classes (of lower ranked students). If it is not a chaotic time (after school pick-up hours are pretty hairy sometimes with all the parents getting their kids between 5 and 6), sometimes they hang out in the "office" and play pranks on some of the younger instructors. My daughter likes to adjust the pneumatic chair so that they sit down lower than they are expecting. Sometimes they write sticky notes and stick them to someone's back unbeknownst to them. It is all in good fun and the instructors are part of it. My kids are well behaved and respectful, and they know when to stop.
The school has my cell phone number, as do both my kids. And if something were to happen, I'm only 5 minutes away at the grocery store or Target, or Bed Bath & Beyond, or Petsmart.

If my children were not comfortable with this arrangement, then I wouldn't do it. Daughter usually has a book to read for when her class is over and her brother's class is going on. Son is usually on his ipod during sister's class. He is often comparing gaming info with some of the older teens. Most of the people at the school (both employees and students) are the same ones who have been there the entire time we have been there. My son started karate at 5 1/2 years old at a different branch of the same school. When he was in 3rd grade, he switched to this school, and one of the instructors he liked from his original school also made the switch to this school (totally coincidental). Many of the non-master instructors switch around between the various branches... and son knows LOTS of them. It is like a 2nd home to our kids as far as their comfort level. And they do NOT go outside the building when I am not there.
Not a big deal at all for us.

I would have been comfortable dropping him off at an even earlier age if it were necessary. Her, probably not so much.

The only times they get annoyed about being there when I am not is when one of them wants to go WITH me to run errands because they want something from Target or want to shop for shoes or something. LOL

I stay because it gives me an excuse to sit and read guilt-free!

I stayed until this past year when my daughter turned 11. Actually this is the first year I have let her go behind doors where I could not watch the class. But she knows the rules she cant be alone in a room with a male teacher and signs to watch for.

I stayed when my oldest was younger (grades K - 2) except when I was super-preggo during the middle of basketball season. The gym had no chairs during practice so one of the other moms took pity on me standing there and offered to be his contact person so I could go home and she drove him to and from a few practices too. At your children's ages, I would only feel comfortable leaving if another M. could be my stand in and have the extra water bottle, have my cell number handy, etc.

I started dropping him off at lacrosse practice halfway through his first season when he was 10. Because our old hockey rink was so far away, I stayed for every practice his first hockey season, when he was 11 or 12. He actually is sometimes disappointed that I don't stay for practices now (he's 14) and sometimes asks if I can stay to watch him if he's particularly proud of some progress he's made in a certain area. I think its sweet that he wants me there. Our daugther does mixed martial arts and my husband usually hangs out at the gym while she's there. She's 15 so there's clearly no need for that. It kind of bugs be because that's 6 hours a week that he could be running errands or doing laundry, but it's his time to have with just her so I don't begrudge it unless we're really busy and I need him to do something else. But for the most part, he really enjoys watching her train and spar.

Our little guys are 6 & 8 and are starting lacrosse and we'll stay for those, partly because it's a 25 minute drive to get there so going home is impractical. If I absolutely have an errand to run I would let another parent know that I'm stepping out and I would let my child know to go to Mr. or Mrs. so and so if he needs anything. But for the most part, I bring some busy work or a book to catch up on and stay. It's fun to watch them!