How many of us are on our last legs with the schooling/working thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has any of this made you more sympathetic to what families in poverty experience in non-pandemic times, working multiple jobs, drying to help kids with homework they don’t understand?

NP and of course this is valid, as empathy and compassion for others is never a bad thing.

But must EVERY thread turn the OP's question/gripe into an oppression Olympics/"who has it worse" competition???
We can all find others who are worse off, for sure! And we can all point to others (ahem- tone deaf celebrities) who are fairing all of this with ease but think that we are all "in the same boat."
The truth is, we are all in the same storm, but in very different boats. And OP is just expressing that her boat is getting difficult for her to row at the moment. That's all.

Most of us here need a reminder that our boat is just NOW getting difficult to row, but others have always been in a leaking boat and trying to row while under heavy fire.

[Anonymous]

I feel like it all comes back to letting your kid handle it. If she/she doesn't want to do the Zoom calls, maybe they're not that invested in demonstrating their commitment, or maybe they think it's bullshit and are willing to deal with the consequences. The consequences may include not making the team or not advancing next year, but isn't that life - how much BS things do you have to do at work if you want to be considered for advancement? It is what it is, and if you don't want to be a "team player," cool, but then you might not get selected for promotion or whatever.

If he/she really wants to keep doing the Zoom calls, then he/she can handle the scheduling, etc. Show them how to do a Google Calendar, forward them the email with the schedule and how to connect and they can manage their own schedules.

Why are parents involved at all?

[Anonymous]

I have a 4 yo and an autistic 6 yo. I am so stressed trying to manage my full time job with my DH working 7 days a week 12-15 hours each day. I skip the regular Kindergarten Zoom classes with my 6 yo because it is just too much for him and kept the special education ones. My 4 yo preschooler zoom classes also takes up my entire lunch hour so I end up eating chips for lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has any of this made you more sympathetic to what families in poverty experience in non-pandemic times, working multiple jobs, drying to help kids with homework they don’t understand?

NP and of course this is valid, as empathy and compassion for others is never a bad thing.

But must EVERY thread turn the OP's question/gripe into an oppression Olympics/"who has it worse" competition???
We can all find others who are worse off, for sure! And we can all point to others (ahem- tone deaf celebrities) who are fairing all of this with ease but think that we are all "in the same boat."
The truth is, we are all in the same storm, but in very different boats. And OP is just expressing that her boat is getting difficult for her to row at the moment. That's all.

Most of us here need a reminder that our boat is just NOW getting difficult to row, but others have always been in a leaking boat and trying to row while under heavy fire.

And if much of what is making your boat hard to row is that you brought a grand piano (soccer zoom) onboard, you still have the option to pitch it overboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it all comes back to letting your kid handle it. If she/she doesn't want to do the Zoom calls, maybe they're not that invested in demonstrating their commitment, or maybe they think it's bullshit and are willing to deal with the consequences. The consequences may include not making the team or not advancing next year, but isn't that life - how much BS things do you have to do at work if you want to be considered for advancement? It is what it is, and if you don't want to be a "team player," cool, but then you might not get selected for promotion or whatever.

If he/she really wants to keep doing the Zoom calls, then he/she can handle the scheduling, etc. Show them how to do a Google Calendar, forward them the email with the schedule and how to connect and they can manage their own schedules.

Why are parents involved at all?

Because not all of us have kids old enough to handle it on their own. We already skip a ton for our school-aged kids (8 and 6) but they still need our help with what we are sticking to AND this situation is completely untenable. Our kids miss their peers and their burgeoning independence. We’re doing our best, but this situation is extremely stressful in many different ways for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it all comes back to letting your kid handle it. If she/she doesn't want to do the Zoom calls, maybe they're not that invested in demonstrating their commitment, or maybe they think it's bullshit and are willing to deal with the consequences. The consequences may include not making the team or not advancing next year, but isn't that life - how much BS things do you have to do at work if you want to be considered for advancement? It is what it is, and if you don't want to be a "team player," cool, but then you might not get selected for promotion or whatever.

If he/she really wants to keep doing the Zoom calls, then he/she can handle the scheduling, etc. Show them how to do a Google Calendar, forward them the email with the schedule and how to connect and they can manage their own schedules.

Why are parents involved at all?

Because not all of us have kids old enough to handle it on their own. We already skip a ton for our school-aged kids (8 and 6) but they still need our help with what we are sticking to AND this situation is completely untenable. Our kids miss their peers and their burgeoning independence. We’re doing our best, but this situation is extremely stressful in many different ways for most people.

Sure, I hear you on 8 and 6. OP is saying teen and preteen. The PP with the 4yo and the autistic 6yo - yeah that sounds super stressful. Too many zoom calls for preteens is an easy fix.

[Anonymous]

We are hiring a nanny otherwise we will lose our jobs!!

[Anonymous]

Me. I really think I’m losing my mind.

[Anonymous]

If your kids aren't old enough to manage Zoom calls on their own, maybe you should have them drop the sport this year. It's not necessary for young kids to participate in travel teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

1)Sports are all paid for long ago. The teams are being really weird about the Zoom calls. If my kids skip them I get emails from the coach "Oh, how is Jack doing? We missed him on the call 4 out of 5 this week. Is he okay?". For real. I can't tell if they're just nervous because if kids stop dropping
off attendance then they (the teams) will have no reason to justify keeping our fulls fees this spring. OR if they're going to use not attending against kids when they try out again. Travel teams are weird and pull shady crap at tryouts all.the.time. I can totally see them eventually dropping a
kid because in part "they didn't show interest in the team by not participating in the zoom calls during quarantine". Yes, I sound crazy to those of you not in the world of travel sports (lucky you). On my kids' travel teams EVERYONE is participating on these calls. You know that it's causing
many of them added stress to do so but they'e logging in day-after-day. So i'm not alone in wondering if there will be repercussions if I pull my kids off the calls. Typing that out makes me realize how nuts this whole travel scene is. I probably should send some emails to the coach and/or program director. However, in many ways it's been easier
to just cooperate with the calls.

2)To the person who should I shouldn't have had more kids than I can take care of? LOL. If only I had taken into account a world-wide pandemic when I was family planning 15 years ago. If I had considered the possibility of a compete societal shut-down I clearly wouldn't have had ANY kids.

3)Best of luck to all of you and thank you for letting me vent and for commiserating with me.

You're entitled AF.