As a parent, you never know the unintended benefits of signing your kids up for extra-curricular activities like sports, dance, gymnastics, etc.  In our case, we sign our boys up for things we think they will like, things that fit into our budget and our schedule.  My 7-year-old who is a sports fanatic – thanks in part to me and my husband – usually likes to do things that are sports related.  This fall we signed him up for a floor hockey class at the JCC.  He loves ice hockey and follows the Bruins obsessively – we DVR the games for him at night and then he watches them when he wakes up in the morning – he is a very early riser.  The floor hockey class fit our budget and it was at the JCC on one of the days he goes there for the after-school program.  The unintended benefit of this hockey class is that he met three adorable Jewish boys who all go to Jewish day school.  Three more Jewish friends to have playdates with and to identify Jewishly with.

On Martin Luther King Day, he was invited by these three boys to “bring a friend to school day” at their Jewish day school.  It is a great marketing tool for the school because all the public schools are closed and families who might be thinking about sending their kids to the school get a day to see what it’s all about.  It was also great for me because I didn’t have to arrange for childcare or take the day off from work! 

All kidding aside, I went to Jewish day school from 4 – 6th grade.  Jewish day schools typically do half the day in Hebrew (prayer, Hebrew, Torah study, holidays, etc.) and half the day in English (math, science, language arts, social studies, etc.).  To this day, any prayer that I sing in services or any blessing that I know by heart and certainly any Hebrew that I can read, are all due to my days at Jewish day school.  I don’t think my husband and I ever considered it for our kids for a few reasons: cost is one and another is that the public schools in our area happen to be pretty good.  Additionally, since my husband isn’t Jewish I didn’t think he would be comfortable with that kind of school – although I know that many intermarried couples choose Jewish day school in part to educate their kids as well as themselves. 

There were many positive takeaways of “bring a friend to school day.”  Our son tried something totally new, with new friends, in a new environment, with not a lot of advanced knowledge about what to expect that day.  My husband and I were so proud of him for trying all of these new things and he was also very proud of himself – the best unintended benefit by far.