Can working parents make summer swim happen?

[Anonymous]

A ton of parents are always working from their lap tops at the pool (my husband among them).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A ton of parents are always working from their lap tops at the pool (my husband among them).

THIS! I am lucky enough to work remotely, so I work on my laptop at the pool and even take conference calls from the pool (or my car, if the landscaping is there at the same time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea that summer swim is run by Sahm is insulting. Almost Every parent at our div 2 team is working in a professional environment. We all just make it work because we know how to manage multiple things at once. Very little drama because we have no time for it. Please drop the idea that it is all sahm.

This is our team too. The directors are all working parents and the majority of the rest of the parents are, too.

We do have concessions which I guess one poster here thinks is "make work" but the concessions make so much money for the team it would be silly not to do it.

[Anonymous]

We are fortunate to be members at Glenwood. There are evening practices, and teens who take kids from nearby KAH summer camp to morning practices.

[Anonymous]

Glenwood sounds awesome! No wonder you have such a long wait list

[Anonymous]

Our pool has morning practice and a swim team/tennis camp special. The kids walk right from practice to tennis camp across the path. It's a win win for families and our tennis program. The tennis kids also swim during the day to keep cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that summer swim is run by Sahm is insulting. Almost Every parent at our div 2 team is working in a professional environment. We all just make it work because we know how to manage multiple things at once. Very little drama because we have no time for it. Please drop the idea that it is all sahm.

This is our team too. The directors are all working parents and the majority of the rest of the parents are, too.

We do have concessions which I guess one poster here thinks is "make work" but the concessions make so much money for the team it would be silly not to do it.

Our teams has practices for 9-10 from 9 to 9:30 and 8 and unders from 9:30-10:30. Afternoon practice is at 4:00. Good luck as a working parents. Our kids joined when WFH happened

[Anonymous]

Our pool (Highlands) offers a camp during the day for working parents. You drop your kid off at camp, they walk them over to swim team practice, dive team practice or even tennis team practice. Your kid still gets to participate in bagel Monday and pancake Friday. This is the best option in my opinion for working families.

[Anonymous]

Summer camps also have a lot of swimming. Loved going to summer camp at a lake and swimming. IMO better than swim team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our pool (Highlands) offers a camp during the day for working parents. You drop your kid off at camp, they walk them over to swim team practice, dive team practice or even tennis team practice. Your kid still gets to participate in bagel Monday and pancake Friday. This is the best option in my opinion for working families.

I wish we had this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Summer camps also have a lot of swimming. Loved going to summer camp at a lake and swimming. IMO better than swim team

Summer camp is for rich kids, summer swim is for middle and upper middle class kids with SAHMs

[Anonymous]

It was really hard pre-pandemic. Kids were in camp and got off bus at 5 (we staggered our scheduled so one parent was avail for pickup) and straight to the pool/dinner on the go/takeout etc. It felt exhausting and there was no afternoon practice on Weds (meets), Fridays, and some other random. My husband now works from home 3 days and I work from home 2 days so they can do morning practice and then relax/amuse themselves or do an afternoon camp nearby or at the same pool. I doubt we would have stuck with it had work from home not increased.

[Anonymous]

We are fortunate that a camp option is right down the street from the pool and that some enterprising teens will walk kids back and forth between camp and practice for a few dollars per day. My oldest will be aging out of the camp soon though so we may hire a college sitter for the swim season for a couple years to take them back and forth and do other activities since the pool isn’t walkable from our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes summer swim is designed for SAHP and kids not in camp. Yes you can make it work by going to camp late and some but not all practices during the week. It helps if you have a flexible job and boss. Yes working parents ate volunteering and making it work.

NP and it is shocking to me that this is still the set up for summer swim. It is the setup from back when I saw in the late 70s/80s. Also back then, we were walking/riding bikes to and from the pool by ourselves in the early morning hours even when we were 7 and 8 years old. I recall going home to an empty house some mornings at that age because my mom had gone out to run errands and my older siblings went to summer jobs. Things have definitely changed.

I don't know that it's a universal thing that this has changed. Our pool has a rule that parents must be on deck for kids 8 and under, but many/most 9s and up are still walking/biking by themselves to practice. My kids sometimes come home to an empty house too because I go run errands.