late hours in sports practices

[Anonymous]

I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You pulled him from a sport he loves because of that? Dumb move

+100

You are also projecting Op. And some kids can muster through it just fine.

Why cant you give your kid a chance? And streamline the non-practice stuff (homework already done, quick dinner prepped and ready, can you let him sleep-in a bit longer the next morning?). You dont give a lot of information so it is hard to gauge your situation.

The season is only for, what?, another 6 weeks? What sport?

[Anonymous]

He has sports practice 2x/week from 8p-9p. He gets home around 9:30 and goes straight to bed. He has to get up at 5:45am to shower the following morning. He could practice more frequently, but we are trying to balance out late nights.

He gets home from school around 3 and leaves for practice around 7:30 so he has time for homework and dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

I’m sorry, but this seems like child endangerment. Why prioritize this soccer team over much needed sleep? I know I know, he loves it, we are hoping he gets a scholarship, his grades are fine. Sorry, but your kid’s brain is not developing on such little sleep.

[Anonymous]

I don't love that my daughter has two late nights (getting home 9 and 9:30) but to be honest she doesn't go to bed any earlier on the non-sport nights anyway. She tends to be asleep by 10 pm either way (wakes 6:30). And at least with the late nights she avoids rush hour - when her time let out earlier last year, her commute was nearly double. So far we are managing by making sure homework is complete before her activity begins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you overreacted by making your kid drop a sport he loves before giving him a chance to prove that he can manage it.

I agree, although there was a time I had to say no to late practices because I had younger kids in the home who had earlier bedtimes, and my spouse couldn't make pickups and no carpool was available. So there might be other logistical issues going on with the time - OP hasn't really said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

I’m sorry, but this seems like child endangerment. Why prioritize this soccer team over much needed sleep? I know I know, he loves it, we are hoping he gets a scholarship, his grades are fine. Sorry, but your kid’s brain is not developing on such little sleep.

Sounds a bit melodramatic. if he’s getting at least 8 hours of sleep he should be fine. However he should be getting dinner before practice even if it’s an early 430/5pm meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

I’m sorry, but this seems like child endangerment. Why prioritize this soccer team over much needed sleep? I know I know, he loves it, we are hoping he gets a scholarship, his grades are fine. Sorry, but your kid’s brain is not developing on such little sleep.

Sounds a bit melodramatic. if he’s getting at least 8 hours of sleep he should be fine. However he should be getting dinner before practice even if it’s an early 430/5pm meal.

+1 We skip the after school snack and serve an earlier, slightly smaller version of dinner around 4:30. Then a healthy snack after practice before bed.

[Anonymous]

Once a week 12yo DS has sports practice from 8 - 9:30. And the field is 30 minutes drive away, so we usually don't get home until 10:15.

It's a drag and I think it was poorly planned, but I suspect the driving factor was field availability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

I’m sorry, but this seems like child endangerment. Why prioritize this soccer team over much needed sleep? I know I know, he loves it, we are hoping he gets a scholarship, his grades are fine. Sorry, but your kid’s brain is not developing on such little sleep.

Sounds a bit melodramatic. if he’s getting at least 8 hours of sleep he should be fine. However he should be getting dinner before practice even if it’s an early 430/5pm meal.

As the parent of two academically high achieving athletes now doing very well in college, I'd say it sounds more like b*t shit crazy than a bit melodramatic.

[Anonymous]

DS in 7th has baseball games that start at 8pm on weekdays. It’s travel and usually far from home and he doesn’t get home until about 10:30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm wondering how other pre-teen parents feel about late-evening (I would even say night) sports practices. I just had to pull my middle-school aged kid out of a sport he loves because we found out the practices for his team would run past 9pm. Kids at this age need as much sleep as younger kids, especially with the increased academic load and earlier school start times, but I'm finding that activities tend to go later. Does anyone else have a problem with this?

My 13 year old does this but he’s actually gotten much better at managing his time as a result, and he’s very committed to his sport. He doesn’t go to bed until around 10:00 pm anyhow. Did you give your kid a chance to see if he could handle it before you pulled him?

10 is tough. Doesn't he get up around 6 for school?

Nope, bus comes at 7:40 so he’s up 7:15. Showers at night so that helps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7th grader who doesn't get home from soccer practice until 9:25ish 3 days a week and around 8:45 on Friday. He is starving when he gets home because he leaves for practice around 6pm. He gets up at 6am for school. It's wearing on him for sure. His academics are fine so far but we keep a close eye. He's so tired though. Sucks.

I’m sorry, but this seems like child endangerment. Why prioritize this soccer team over much needed sleep? I know I know, he loves it, we are hoping he gets a scholarship, his grades are fine. Sorry, but your kid’s brain is not developing on such little sleep.

Sounds a bit melodramatic. if he’s getting at least 8 hours of sleep he should be fine. However he should be getting dinner before practice even if it’s an early 430/5pm meal.

As the parent of two academically high achieving athletes now doing very well in college, I'd say it sounds more like b*t shit crazy than a bit melodramatic.

Seconded.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grader has 7pm baseball games two weeknights- usually doesn’t get to bed until 10. He is up at 6:45.

It probably is too late but there really isn’t an alternative if he wants to play, and it is seasonal. Lights out by 9 all other school nights.

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile many school fields go unused due to poor planning or zoning regulations, squeezing the remaining players onto the available ones at all hours.

https://ggwash.org/view/62267/dc-has-plenty-of-athletic-fields.-why-is-it-so-hard-to-use-them