What am I doing wrong? How is everyone juggling multiple sports for multiple kids at multiple locations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Older kids get phones, dropped off early and picked up late. My kids sometimes have to wait 30 mins for me to get there. I just do the best i can, make sure phone are charged and keep driving.

This. And we've started using Uber teen when necessary.

[Anonymous]

Piggy backing on this- what about dinner!!!!?

[Anonymous]

2 parents who divide and conquer.

Dh is also the coach for our two oldest, so he can set the schedules and games to not conflict. There are a few siblings on both teams since other people appreciate that too.

I have had a few snarky parents say “oh I never see you at the practices.” Grr. My husband is the coach and I have 3 kids and a full time job. I’m usually taking a different kid to a different practice. I also try to create normalcy for my non sporty kid. She doesn’t want her whole life to revolve around being bored at sibling practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Piggy backing on this- what about dinner!!!!?

I cook the night before and then either reheat or it’s a meal we can eat cold. Pasta is a great dish the next day, same with shredded chicken for taco bowls.

I need to get better at crockpot dishes but my kids hate everything mushed together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids are 7 (b), 11 (b), 15 (g) and I’ve not yet been able to have all three in a sport in a season that doesn’t overlap with practice start times or end times or the actual game times.

How is everyone managing the multiple sports with multiple kids?

I see it all across social media. Parents are at games for multiple kids or off to practices for multiple kids but locally logistically this isn’t working out for us.

What am I doing wrong?

- Having 3 kids. Having just 2 kids is still very manageable, but 3 gets exponentially harder.

- Not having flexible jobs/SAH parent/relatives who can help/nanny,

- Not having kids in the same sport,

- Not having a support system of other moms who can carpool. (Of course, having a network of carpooling moms means that you also have to reciprocate and be social/hospitable to them. Else, they drop you when they find another person they can carpool with who is more social)

[Anonymous]

- Also, don't believe Social Media. It is all fake. It is just perception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Piggy backing on this- what about dinner!!!!?

You get to pick one of three choices:
1. You eat as a family at a decent hour every night, but your kids don't get to participate in activities (or are very restricted.)
2. Each family member eats on their own time. Sometimes that means you all eat together, but most often not.
3. You eat together as a family at a ridiculous time, like 11 pm.
A couple years ago there was some commercial (I don't even remember what it was for) where a young man (like maybe late teens or early 20s) had a new job at a restaurant. When he came home late at night after work, his whole family was seated at the dinner table waiting for him so they could all eat together. While that seems sweet, and maybe something you could do occasionally, it's unrealistic for most families.

[Anonymous]

You carpool or pay a sitter to drive your kid.

[Anonymous]

Ours do the same sports and/or the same location- which is 5 min from where we live. And they do individual sports which allows us a lot of control in the schedule. We have three kids: one elementary, one middle, one high school. While it doesn’t overlap perfectly, it pretty close and doable for one parent. The high schooler is a bit different since high school sports follow a different schedule, he is able to ride with older teammates that drive and live in neighborhood.

The key to making things manageable is just say no to competitive dance, gymnastics, and travel team sports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Piggy backing on this- what about dinner!!!!?

Cook dinner before school gets out if my way around this. It’s ready for kids to eat dinner 1 after school, dinner 2 after sports. Or whenever their schedules allow without my stressing about it between driving and dropping kids placing. But obv not an option for everyone to able to do this. If I couldn’t do this, I’d just make double sized dinners on evenings that weren’t at busy so we could eat leftovers on the busy nights

[Anonymous]

They drop their kids off at practices/games and leave. That’s how they make it work. Example - At summer swim, one parent set up his kid right next to me, then left without saying a word. The mom arrived after the kid finished the meets to pick up kid. Who made sure kid was ready to swim, if hungry, at food? Another parent - me.

[Anonymous]

We stay local - as in rec league - so I know practices will be at a nearby ES field.

Drop-off/dont stay for practice.

Divide and conquer with DH. Call in favors on occasion with a teammate or carpool.

You figure it out. And it's temporary.

[Anonymous]

My kids are spaced 5+ years apart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Piggy backing on this- what about dinner!!!!?

You get to pick one of three choices:
1. You eat as a family at a decent hour every night, but your kids don't get to participate in activities (or are very restricted.)
2. Each family member eats on their own time. Sometimes that means you all eat together, but most often not.
3. You eat together as a family at a ridiculous time, like 11 pm.
A couple years ago there was some commercial (I don't even remember what it was for) where a young man (like maybe late teens or early 20s) had a new job at a restaurant. When he came home late at night after work, his whole family was seated at the dinner table waiting for him so they could all eat together. While that seems sweet, and maybe something you could do occasionally, it's unrealistic for most families.

We packed our kids food and they ate in the car. On those occasions that we were all home, we did something together - like going out for pizza or dinner and game night at home.

[Anonymous]

You’ve gotten good advice.
-CARPOOL
- you’re kids are old enough that you shouldn’t be sitting at practice unless it’s logistically to far away to leave and come back. Which i totally understand. Sometimes i use this time to catch up on work, get some exercise, or call my mom
-you have to consider where practices/games are, when you sign kids up for things. We literally eliminated an entire league from consideration when DS was switching teams, bc we knew the practice And game locations were going to drive us crazy
-re eating, i am at heart the annoying “healthy fresh cooked meal with veggies” mom. But the fall is always insane for us. So i do a combo of meal prep, leftovers, and lots of “ when you get home feel free to make yourself some scrambled eggs or a sandwich”. For financial ands health reasons i try to limit takeout or fast food to one night/week.