Families that never volunteer - swim team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time to start hiring people volunteering is not possible with us millennials working triple jobs

You aren't working triple jobs and be real, if they hired people do you realize what they'd have to charge for team and most families aren't willing to pay that. Part of team is everyone pitching in.

Check your privileges old Genx boomer

Seriously? Swimming is a privilege that only some can afford. Whether it is time or financial.

If you can’t afford to do your volunteer commitment, then don’t sign up your child. There are many activities my children would like to do but can’t for various reasons. That’s life!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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.

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.

You misunderstood. Hire a teen for $20 an hour to do your volunteering. 100% of my kids’ friend would do this: timing, marshal, etc. they’d earn $80 before lunch.

You cannot be a timer and swim at the same time. The meets are for the kids to have fun. Be a grown up and find a way to volunteer or buy your way out. We all know those kind of parents. They call the rest of us to demand we drive their kids to swim/activities as they are too busy or important to do it themselves or have to many kids and didn't think it through when they had those kids.

I agree with everything except I think it’s perfectly fine to pay a teen to take your spot so you’re chipping in and helping on behalf of your family. What’s not okay is to just not do it and be a mooch.

Let the teens enjoy their time on team. They shouldn't have to be stressed about their races and do your job as you are too lazy to. The teens that can help the other kids so they are doing their fair share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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!

Right, but these types of families don’t sign their kids up for summer swim team. The volunteer requirements are spelled out in advance. Our team does not allow paying your way out of volunteering.

That's sad that it's exclusive to privileged families.

Families make sacrifices all the time. Belonging to a pool is also a privilege. Can’t join a summer team without having some kind of ability to pay for a membership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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.

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.

You misunderstood. Hire a teen for $20 an hour to do your volunteering. 100% of my kids’ friend would do this: timing, marshal, etc. they’d earn $80 before lunch.

You cannot be a timer and swim at the same time. The meets are for the kids to have fun. Be a grown up and find a way to volunteer or buy your way out. We all know those kind of parents. They call the rest of us to demand we drive their kids to swim/activities as they are too busy or important to do it themselves or have to many kids and didn't think it through when they had those kids.

I agree with everything except I think it’s perfectly fine to pay a teen to take your spot so you’re chipping in and helping on behalf of your family. What’s not okay is to just not do it and be a mooch.

Let the teens enjoy their time on team. They shouldn't have to be stressed about their races and do your job as you are too lazy to. The teens that can help the other kids so they are doing their fair share.

They can hire any teen. It doesn’t have to be a swim team kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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.

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.

You misunderstood. Hire a teen for $20 an hour to do your volunteering. 100% of my kids’ friend would do this: timing, marshal, etc. they’d earn $80 before lunch.

You cannot be a timer and swim at the same time. The meets are for the kids to have fun. Be a grown up and find a way to volunteer or buy your way out. We all know those kind of parents. They call the rest of us to demand we drive their kids to swim/activities as they are too busy or important to do it themselves or have to many kids and didn't think it through when they had those kids.

I agree with everything except I think it’s perfectly fine to pay a teen to take your spot so you’re chipping in and helping on behalf of your family. What’s not okay is to just not do it and be a mooch.

Let the teens enjoy their time on team. They shouldn't have to be stressed about their races and do your job as you are too lazy to. The teens that can help the other kids so they are doing their fair share.

They can hire any teen. It doesn’t have to be a swim team kid.

This. How could it possibly be a teen on the team? A few weeks ago at an A meet, a dad was a table worker, a mom was a starter and a non swimming teen family member was a timer. The other teen was swimming in the meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time to start hiring people volunteering is not possible with us millennials working triple jobs

You aren't working triple jobs and be real, if they hired people do you realize what they'd have to charge for team and most families aren't willing to pay that. Part of team is everyone pitching in.

Parenting counts as a job, am I right SAHMs?!?

Sure and one that you can hire someone to do for a few hours so you can volunteer!

If every family is hiring a babysitter for a few hours just do they can volunteer, then it would definitely be cheaper to hire out swim team staff. If I have to pay $100 a night for a sitter, it would be way easier to pay that to a timer or a clerk or whatever else they need.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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!

Right, but these types of families don’t sign their kids up for summer swim team. The volunteer requirements are spelled out in advance. Our team does not allow paying your way out of volunteering.

That's sad that it's exclusive to privileged families.

Bring it up with the league, then.

Keep doing your part to uphold the ugly history of swimming in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 shrimpers and a baby and a husband that works in another state so I truly cannot volunteer at meets but I guarantee you I donate more money than any other family.

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!

Right, but these types of families don’t sign their kids up for summer swim team. The volunteer requirements are spelled out in advance. Our team does not allow paying your way out of volunteering.

I signed my oldest up for swim team. I went to the pool quite a bit that summer.

The older kids also played football and soccer that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time to start hiring people volunteering is not possible with us millennials working triple jobs

You aren't working triple jobs and be real, if they hired people do you realize what they'd have to charge for team and most families aren't willing to pay that. Part of team is everyone pitching in.

Check your privileges old Genx boomer

Seriously? Swimming is a privilege that only some can afford. Whether it is time or financial.

If you can’t afford to do your volunteer commitment, then don’t sign up your child. There are many activities my children would like to do but can’t for various reasons. That’s life!

What if the kid is swimming on scholarship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Swimming comes across as so elitist. The expensive pay-to-play model is bad enough but then you have forced volunteering or an expensive payout? I can't see how my mom would have been able to handle that. I'm now married to a successful college swimmer and it is funny that she is the one who isn't interested in being involved in the toxic competitive swim culture.

Most summer swim families are middle class. If you think the middle class is elitist, OK.

Middle class do not belong to private pools.

It’s 2023 not 1960. It’s not elitist to join a community pool. It’s more elitist to have your own pool.

Yes, but real middle class cannot afford $700-1K or living in an HOA community. Be real. They go swim at the county pools.

Are you from the DMV area?

Median household income is around $130,000 for Fairfax county which has most of the pools in the NVSL. They can afford $600-700 membership fee.

Yes and $130k is not exactly middle class.

So most people are not middle classes here?

Yes, that is correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Presuming you’re even a remotely semi-standard DCUM mom, that sounds like a solvable problem. Shrug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a millennial parent and work 2-3 jobs because of the boomers, so I don't have time.

Cool. Then don’t sign your kids up for swim. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a millennial parent and work 2-3 jobs because of the boomers, so I don't have time.

That's understandable, and I am sure since you can't volunteer, you wouldn't sign your kids up to swim.

Millennials and younger don't have the luxury to volunteer like you old people Genx+, we are busy working, swim team will have to change to something besides volunteers as we are screwed by crushing debt, inflation and low salaries

No, spoiled child, it will not “have to change.” Your kids just wont be able to participate.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is good, just contact a few teams about a move and let them know your constraints. You'll probably have no trouble finding an accommodating team if you shop around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our team made this really simple:
If you don't fulfill your hours, your kids can't sign up the following year. Once the rule was instituted, volunteer participation skyrocketed.

Imagine that.