After school activities and sports is crushing us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My kids are almost grown. I told them they get one -- yes, one -- activity that I am driving them each to during the week. So choose wisely. And I was a SAHM.

One kid picked music. The other kid picked STEM/art activities.

It forced each of our kids to figure out what they like the most, and go with that. And they got good at it. Made for good thing to reference on college applications.

Your kids happened to pick non time intensive activities. My kids also only do one thing but one kid does dance team at HS (5x a week, but I only have to drive one way most of the time) and the other kid does softball which is 2 practices a week plus games/tournaments on the weekends. And then on top of that they still both have medical/dental/vision checkups, regular ortho appointments, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My kids are almost grown. I told them they get one -- yes, one -- activity that I am driving them each to during the week. So choose wisely. And I was a SAHM.

One kid picked music. The other kid picked STEM/art activities.

It forced each of our kids to figure out what they like the most, and go with that. And they got good at it. Made for good thing to reference on college applications.

This isn't a solution that would work for us to cut down the time commitment. One kid is a competitive gymnast, has 3 practices per week and occasional meets. Another is a travel baseball players with 2-3 practices a week and weekend tournaments. One activity hardly means they are doing 1 thing a week. I have a 3rd just getting started in activities and I hope he picks one of the activities his sibling does for economies of scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 kids 4 years apart, that helped tremendously.

I have two kids three years apart and we are just as swamped as OP. I mostly miss eating homecooked dinners together and having reasonable bedtimes.

Me too!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't overschedule your kids. They don't have to do everything.

You realize though that by MS and HS one sport can be 5-6 x/week

For HS, yes I get it, but I think for kids younger than that it's a little much. I want my kids to be happy and do things they enjoy, but not at the expense of all of our free time. Not just mine, but theirs too.