What am I doing wrong? How is everyone juggling multiple sports for multiple kids at multiple locations?
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Anonymous
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I have 4 fairly close in age. You have gotten good advice.
1. If someone needs a ride, and you can help, say yes. This way you can ask for favors in return. 2. You need to organize the carpools. Don't wait around for someone to ask you. Start the conversation and offer to organize it. 3. You or your spouse offers to coach. Then you can set the practice schedule for at least one team. |
Anonymous
That’s great (sincerely) but I’d be curious to know how old your kids are. In my experience, as kids get older, and passionate enough about something (be it music or dance or sports or whatever) that they’re willing to work hard at it, parents start to sacrifice more. |
Anonymous
+1. My kids were on very simplified manageable schedules until about middle school. It was heavenly and it was by design. If you have never parented tweens/teens it’s hard to understand how their schedules get crazier and more driven by the kids themselves and their passions. Yes you can tell them no, but you want them doing what they love and enjoy. It’s really hard for me because I am an introverted homebody. I want nothing more than to be on my couch in my pjs each night by 7:30pm. So the HS years I am currently in with my kids are tough. But I love them so I give up my comfort for their passion. It’s not forever. |
Anonymous
Do you even have kids? |
Anonymous
| We use Uber Teen for the older kids. |
Anonymous
If someone claims not to sacrife all their time and energy on kiddie sports they must be childless? Many kids drop their sport in middle school and focus on more intellectual activities in high school or stick to school based sports. Which is great because nobody needs to drive all over the place for school based activities. Having all your kids in different intense sports run by private businesses scattered all over the place is a parental choice. Choose better. |
Anonymous
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I have 3 kids. I don’t work.
I have a big gap from my middle and last kid so for many years, I dragged the youngest to practices and games for the older two. Last year was the worst and also the year I was planning to go back to work. I had one kid in elementary school, one in middle school and one in high school and the amount of driving was insane. One positive of high school is that most activities are after school and they can always stay and wait for the bus to games or if they have late practice. |
Anonymous
Some good advice and feedback here but the very first thing you need to do is get off social media and stop using that as a measuring stick. The rest will fall into place. |
Anonymous
| Less kids, carpool, both parents do pick up/drop off, older kids drive, etc. |
Anonymous
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Pp with 3 kids. I would prioritize most important activity and who needs to be dropped off first. Youngest was often lowest priority. If DH was home, he would help drive and often pick up a kid or two on the way home.
The problem when kids get older is that the more competitive sports usually aren’t local. The more competitive they are, the more travel required. If tournaments or games were far or all day or weekend, parents would carpool. It is harder when everything is at the same time but it isn’t usually all at the exact same time. |
Anonymous
Even school sports are a lot. My kid is a swimer in school and we have to do all the driving, so two practices a week and a weekly meet, not including club practices. And, other stuff. Marching band at school is 3-4 times a week and they have to go back for practices and cannot stay. You may say no, but childhood is short and we want ours to have opportunities and interests. |
Anonymous
That person is going to sign them up for rec soccer. Future tense. That is not someone with school aged kids or older. It’s a preschool mom or childless auntie who thinks she’s going to be the bestest mom ever when in reality she has no clue. It all goes out the window when one of your kids hates soccer and wants to do something else. Then what? And this isn’t just about sports. But that person will force their hypothetical kids to do soccer whether they want to or not. Great parenting. |
Anonymous
This is sound advice. I have 3 (es,ms and 9th) My husband works out of town 4 days a week. I have to rely on carpools or when his job changed they would have had to drop activities they’d been in for years and love. I was active setting them up and it made my life so much easier. I wasn’t able to do #3, but know some families with a fantastic set up where Dad in family A coaches one sport and Dad in family B coaches the other. There are about 5 kids who play both the sports on the same two teams. They coordinate practice and game schedules to fit both. Don’t feel like you need to stay for practice. If I had all the time in the world, I might stay occasionally, but even then I’d rather walk around the fields or run a quick errand. This season, I’ve got two with back to back practices multiple times a week. Larlo is picked up by the carpool to go to practice. I get there with Larla about 15 minutes left in the first practice so Larla can change (hockey). I watch the last 15 minutes of practice. Then I watch the first 10 minutes of Larla’s practice while Larlo and carpool child change. |
Anonymous
This. It’s cute when future parents or toddler parents talk down to us. Please tell us more about what you will never do. |
Anonymous
Yeah, our neighborhood doesn’t have an ice skating rink. Rink hours are often at inconvenient times. My one kid has green days at 6am! When my kids were in preschool and early elementary, I used to sign up my two boys for the same location. I would sign up camps this way. This was age 7 and under. |