Would you drive 30 minutes each way for a kid to try a sport?

[Anonymous]

If you are talking about medstar, lots of families are from dc. We live in Virginia and it takes us 20 mins to get there.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but 30 minutes is my upper limit for regular practices. Bring work or go for a run during practice. Everything is at least 15 minutes.

[Anonymous]

I’ll do 30 minutes no whiips or chainz

[Anonymous]

If your kid decides to play any sport you’re going to end up driving to the burbs. That’s where all kids sports are.

[Anonymous]

My parents did it for me. I won't do it for my kids. Too much time in the car - little ROI.

Pick something else.

[Anonymous]

I would and I have, for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents did it for me. I won't do it for my kids. Too much time in the car - little ROI.

Pick something else.

That is precious time. My tweens are trapped with us for hours. We tell jokes, hear about their lives, listen to audiobooks. And you are there for them. You have it all wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. When mine was a toddler I vowed we would be city people and just take the bus to nearby activities.

Now I drive 35-45 minutes one-way 3-4x/week to a distant suburb…while passing other locations for less-competitive versions of my child’s main activity. It’s ridiculous but she’s happy, healthy and has great friends. Worst-case scenario: she falls in love with the sport and you do this drive for 10 years, best-case scenario: she crosses it off the list after one season and you move on feeling relieved to have one less what-if. And maybe she’ll be a decent skater and can have fun at birthday parties one day?!

I make the drive tolerable by batching it with other errands that can only be done by car. I don’t buy non-perishables, household supplies, go to UPS, etc. unless it’s an activity day. And then I do it all at the fancy suburban locations of the places I used to go to in the city. If I’m waiting at pickup, I always have a book or paperwork- no phone scrolling! It is good to have set times to get stuff done. In the summer I go to nearby parks or walking paths and exercise during DD’s workout.

Just curious why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she wants to play hockey, you will be doing a lot of driving, and there will be a lot of practices at miserable times. If the idea sounds miserable now, the squash it before it starts

+1. If driving is not that appealing to you, you are not going to like hockey. You are going to have to drive everywhere, and it is going to be way further than soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she wants to play hockey, you will be doing a lot of driving, and there will be a lot of practices at miserable times. If the idea sounds miserable now, the squash it before it starts

+1. If driving is not that appealing to you, you are not going to like hockey. You are going to have to drive everywhere, and it is going to be way further than soccer.

Agree. The 30 min part is ok, but hard no to hockey. Way more driving than most sports. Plus do you really want your 7 yr old playing a contact sport?

[Anonymous]

Hockey is the pits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did it for me. I won't do it for my kids. Too much time in the car - little ROI.

Pick something else.

That is precious time. My tweens are trapped with us for hours. We tell jokes, hear about their lives, listen to audiobooks. And you are there for them. You have it all wrong.

Nah, I don't have it wrong. I value my time with them actually doing things WITH them, not sitting idle in a car. It's an opportunity trade off. By your answer I don't expect you to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents did it for me. I won't do it for my kids. Too much time in the car - little ROI.

Pick something else.

That is precious time. My tweens are trapped with us for hours. We tell jokes, hear about their lives, listen to audiobooks. And you are there for them. You have it all wrong.

Nah, I don't have it wrong. I value my time with them actually doing things WITH them, not sitting idle in a car. It's an opportunity trade off. By your answer I don't expect you to understand.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. When mine was a toddler I vowed we would be city people and just take the bus to nearby activities.

Now I drive 35-45 minutes one-way 3-4x/week to a distant suburb…while passing other locations for less-competitive versions of my child’s main activity. It’s ridiculous but she’s happy, healthy and has great friends. Worst-case scenario: she falls in love with the sport and you do this drive for 10 years, best-case scenario: she crosses it off the list after one season and you move on feeling relieved to have one less what-if. And maybe she’ll be a decent skater and can have fun at birthday parties one day?!

I make the drive tolerable by batching it with other errands that can only be done by car. I don’t buy non-perishables, household supplies, go to UPS, etc. unless it’s an activity day. And then I do it all at the fancy suburban locations of the places I used to go to in the city. If I’m waiting at pickup, I always have a book or paperwork- no phone scrolling! It is good to have set times to get stuff done. In the summer I go to nearby parks or walking paths and exercise during DD’s workout.

This, exactly. Let your kid give it a shot, and use your time creatively.

[Anonymous]

We drive 45-60 minutes each way for our kids' sport but we're also there for about 3 hours while they both do it, so at least we're not spending more time in the car than at the sport. My husband and I both work full-time but we've committed to this sport and our kids love it so we deal with it. You could try to look into carpooling? We can't do that unfortunately because it's a niche sport, which yours may be as well.