Why do the sports teams have to have such late practices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is way too late for first graders. I think it is because this area is obsessed with scheduling kids for activities and not letting them relax, be little kids and get enough sleep.

I'd opt out for this year if I were you.

I think this is a canard. Why are you so determined to raise lazy kids, anyway? Expect more from them -- they can do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our 1st graders baseball schedule and it is meeting on a weeknight until 8:00pm. Which means that after driving home, snack, and bath that he won't be in bed until 9:00 at best. Don't they know these kids need to be up for school? So annoyed.

My husband has volunteered coached 3 different sports for over 10 years. I have volunteered coached one sport and Girl Scouts for 8 years. We have 3 kids so various sets of parents thru the years. Here are some of the complaints we get:

Why isn't practice at our home school after school. It makes it easier for us.
Why is practice during aftercare time? I want to be able to go.
Why is practice right after school? Kids need a break and snack. We can't do homework late
Why is practice during dinner time? We have to have family dinners
Why is practice not at our home school? I don't want to drive 5-10min further
Why is practice too late? My kid goes to bed at 7:30pm
Why is practice only 1 hour? It doesn't give me enough time to go food shopping
Why is practice an hour? Kids don't have that attention span
Why is practice at a field with no playground? What am I supposed to do with my younger child? Can my younger child practice too?


I mean we have heard it all. You will NEVER appease everyone. We put in 5 requests and the county decides our location and time. Most of the time it is not to the coach's benefit and we have had to move around our schedule to coach the kids. So either quit the team or suck it up and realize it is not that life altering. No one needs to hear the whining.

This,

Another alternative is to sign up to coach yourself.

Thank you PP for coaching.

- single uncoordinated mom who will be eternal grateful to all the unpaid and underpaid coaches who made such a difference to his childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our 1st graders baseball schedule and it is meeting on a weeknight until 8:00pm. Which means that after driving home, snack, and bath that he won't be in bed until 9:00 at best. Don't they know these kids need to be up for school? So annoyed.

My husband has volunteered coached 3 different sports for over 10 years. I have volunteered coached one sport and Girl Scouts for 8 years. We have 3 kids so various sets of parents thru the years. Here are some of the complaints we get:

Why isn't practice at our home school after school. It makes it easier for us.
Why is practice during aftercare time? I want to be able to go.
Why is practice right after school? Kids need a break and snack. We can't do homework late
Why is practice during dinner time? We have to have family dinners
Why is practice not at our home school? I don't want to drive 5-10min further
Why is practice too late? My kid goes to bed at 7:30pm
Why is practice only 1 hour? It doesn't give me enough time to go food shopping
Why is practice an hour? Kids don't have that attention span
Why is practice at a field with no playground? What am I supposed to do with my younger child? Can my younger child practice too?


I mean we have heard it all. You will NEVER appease everyone. We put in 5 requests and the county decides our location and time. Most of the time it is not to the coach's benefit and we have had to move around our schedule to coach the kids. So either quit the team or suck it up and realize it is not that life altering. No one needs to hear the whining.

Yes!!! My husband coaches soccer, baseball and football and we hear the same crap. He cannot do any practice before 6:30 and even if he could, he has never got to decide which field/time he gets. I would stay away from sports if you cannot be flexible, understanding, accommodating. We are all tired. We have three boys and they are still alive and thriving, even though they have had to attend a few late practices.

[Anonymous]

Yep, plus every coach wants the same field and practice time. I agree 8 is a bit late for a first grader but he'll be ok.

[Anonymous]

I understand and DH has coached. It's still hard. We have a 2nd grader and our practice ends at 8 but the field is a good 25 min away. He will be ok for a night but is exhausted by 8:30 since he is up by 6 and goes to before care. My job starts early. There isn't a way to please everyone.

[Anonymous]

To the poster who stated that kids don't go to school unti 9am---Not all elementary schools start at 9am, for instance our school starts at 8am.

Perhaps most kids on the team are at a later start school (9-9:15) so the kids go to bed later than an earlier start school kid would?! They can sleep in past 7am and go to bed later.

[Anonymous]

This would be a deal breaker for me. I'm upstairs in my PJ's by 9 and my kids have already been asleep an hour.

[Anonymous]

OP, I completely agree with you that 8pm is too late for most six year olds. DS is in first grade and he is in bed at 8 pretty much every night and needs that to be a functioning child the next day.

But this is where it is up to you to be the parent. YOU get to decide what time your child ends activities. For some kids, an 8pm practice is fine. If it's not fine for your kid, you get to decide not to do that activity. As many PPs have said, there are limited resouces - both facility and coaching - and they'll never make everyone happy. As the parent you have to accept responsibility and not try to pawn that off on the volunteers running an activity.

[Anonymous]

Yep.

Our kids' soccer tryouts end at 8:15pm on a Sunday night. He is just turning 8 years old. We won't even be home until quarter of 9pm. WTF?

We try to have them in bed by 8:30pm, but older one has practices that run until 8pm three nights a week. He's 10/4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep.

Our kids' soccer tryouts end at 8:15pm on a Sunday night. He is just turning 8 years old. We won't even be home until quarter of 9pm. WTF?

We try to have them in bed by 8:30pm, but older one has practices that run until 8pm three nights a week. He's 10/4th grade.

my husband currently coaches 2nd grade soccer and runs a 5pm-6pm practice. He usually doesn't get home from work until 7:30pm--but rearranges his schedule during soccer season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is way too late for first graders. I think it is because this area is obsessed with scheduling kids for activities and not letting them relax, be little kids and get enough sleep.

I'd opt out for this year if I were you.

Take it down a notch. A once a week one hour practice and one hour weekend game for a 1st grader has been going on since I was a kid in the late 70's.

And for our family a 7-8pm practice would be ideal. It gives my kids time to do homework, play with neighborhood friends, have a family dinner and go off and get some exercise before bed - which is normally the time they are begging for electronics. We would just do a quick snack in the car ride home, quick shower at home and in bed by 9pm. That still gives her 11 hours sleep as her school doesn't start until 9:05am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This would be a deal breaker for me. I'm upstairs in my PJ's by 9 and my kids have already been asleep an hour.

so it is about you not the kids? Because the kids would be fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just got our 1st graders baseball schedule and it is meeting on a weeknight until 8:00pm. Which means that after driving home, snack, and bath that he won't be in bed until 9:00 at best. Don't they know these kids need to be up for school? So annoyed.

A weeknight practice until 8:00 PM is ridiculous. For what, T-ball? Our first grader is in bed by 8:00 PM. What happened to weekend practice/games only? They're not the Nationals, for goodness sakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is way too late for first graders. I think it is because this area is obsessed with scheduling kids for activities and not letting them relax, be little kids and get enough sleep.

I'd opt out for this year if I were you.

8:00 is jot too late for most first graders.

Most first graders have bedtimes between 8:00-9:00.

Only a few first graders are still going down at 7:30. Most preschoolers stay up later than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got our 1st graders baseball schedule and it is meeting on a weeknight until 8:00pm. Which means that after driving home, snack, and bath that he won't be in bed until 9:00 at best. Don't they know these kids need to be up for school? So annoyed.

A weeknight practice until 8:00 PM is ridiculous. For what, T-ball? Our first grader is in bed by 8:00 PM. What happened to weekend practice/games only? They're not the Nationals, for goodness sakes.

Why don't you volunteer to coach then?