Families that never volunteer - swim team
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Anonymous
Except it’s not misspelled… |
Anonymous
😀 |
Anonymous
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I’m a single working mom and I have 2 swimmers. The team wanted 6 spots filled, per swimmer, per family. That would have been 12 spots. We aren’t even able to make all the meets, so that isn’t going to happen. I don’t remember what might happen if I can’t do all the slots. Also we’re new and I didn’t realize everyone signed up for their slots right away, and by the time I went in a day later, most were taken. So far I’ve been able to fill 4.
If I end up having to pay, then I’ll pay. |
Anonymous
give me a break. You're not more special than anyone else. do you not attend the meets? Are you dropping three kids off to swim at a meet and they have no supervision or parental support? it is not hard: hire a teen and pay what the going rate is. $18-$20 an hour for 4 hours on Saturday mornings or Monday nights or whenever. this is not a hard problem to solve. Please don’t guarantee you donate more than others. It has nothing to do with chipping in and you don’t even know if you’re right. |
Anonymous
Volunteering isn't an option. Our team just signs up the parents to volunteer. You can state your preferences but you WILL be volunteering. It all works fine. |
Anonymous
Let's be real, the kids probably have babysitters all week. Sometimes donating money helps the team more depending on the team. They are probably either dropping the 1-2 kids off and letting it be the team's problem or all kids go and she sits there and hangs out. No one wants to watch 2-3 kids for $20 an hour. |
Anonymous
Dad could come home weekends and help. |
Anonymous
Yes our LL is exactly the same as yours. I think if everyone paid, our team rep would give us a talk about how some people needed to volunteer. We have a giant, well run team. |
Anonymous
So, I'm the person who asked for stories. Thank you for this story! My team has families like this. They're trying to volunteer, they're just new. They apologize for not filling enough shifts. They are generally helpful. If they see someone lugging things across the parking lot and they bring kids over to help carry. The notice when the mom running concessions has a three year old doing the potty dance next to her, and ask if she wants them to take over for a while. They don't come to a potluck breakfast or potluck dinner empty handed, they bring SOMETHING even if it's a few bunches of bananas or the napkins. They say "Thank you" and make their kids say "Thank you". No one cares that they didn't quite make their total number of shifts. We know they'll do better when they know how things work, and their kids are a little older. They aren't the ones we all get annoyed with. At least at my team, you wouldn't get kicked off. |
Anonymous
Our team can use the money and the volunteering, so if you're donating it helps. But if you're a family that has more money than time, you can also use that money in other ways. You can buy things rather than make things for pot luck. Plenty of families get their contribution delivered by UberEats direction to the pool. You can hire a babysitter on a Saturday morning when your kids aren't swimming to come and help out with an A meet. While you're there you might meet the parent who runs the volunteers who will let you know about a baby friendly job. For example, you might find out that the person who does the Costco run has her youngest going off to college, and they're happy to reassign that job to you, or your housekeeper. |
Anonymous
The same question applies |
Anonymous
I have been there. When I got pregnant with my fourth, the plan was for me to SAH, but by the time the baby was born, things happened that he had to do some additional training 900 miles away while I stayed at home, took care of the kids, and financially supported my family. It was only one year, but it was a hard year. Anytime I had free time, I slept. I feel for you. Kids will get older and more independent! Take care! |
Anonymous
Are you saying that your team doesn't have A meets on Saturday, or just that your kids don't swim at them? If your team doesn't have A meets on Saturdays then you probably aren't local. You can volunteer at a meet your kids don't swim at. It's really common for parents to do that. One thing that works for my team is to sign up to help clean up after home meets. You can almost always find one of the teenagers on the team who is willing to baby sit since they are there anyway. You pay them for an hour, get some volunteer time, in, and then you can just stay at the pool with your kids. Similarly, some working parents have the flexibility to get to an evening B meet, or a Friday social event, help set up, and then go pick up their kids from daycare, or have the nanny bring them. I'm not saying that these work for everyone, but it's the kind of strategy that does work for many families. |
Anonymous
| Time to start hiring people volunteering is not possible with us millennials working triple jobs |
Anonymous
Do you actually work 3 jobs? What are they? The rate at which women participate in the workforce has fallen off since 1999. |