We never did it because it’s really hard for working parents. And my spouse was a Div I swimmer. But just not practical for us. A lot of the pools also require parents to volunteer a whole bunch, which wasn’t going to work with our schedules. Our kids went to summer camp where they swam an hour or two a day though so they are all decent swimmers—but not competitive swimmers. We did the weekend FInS program for one of them but they hated it so we didn’t force it.

At ours other parents who are SAH help. After practice they help get the child to wherever you have them placed while you are at work.

Anonymous wrote:my pool has 9am practice for the little ones and I hate it. I made it work one summer with grandparent help. Last summer, I brought my laptop and worked at the pool then did camp drop off. Not sure about this summer but it's the last summer that I try unless they are all in. I loved summer swim but my mom was a teacher and off work in the summer.

Our pool has 10 am for the youngest. Summer swim is for stay at home
Parents and people who work from
Home.

Anonymous wrote:If they don’t offer it, you need to push your team to have later afternoon practices for pre-team/full team as an option. Carpooling, too, and you do pick up if that’s still too early. There are ways to do it, and summer swim was great fun for our kids.

I'm the one who started the group. Our pool is run by volunteers. IME in this and everything else - you'll get more traction if you're willing to do the work to start it up yourself - rather than ask others to take on more volunteer work to do it.

my pool has 9am practice for the little ones and I hate it. I made it work one summer with grandparent help. Last summer, I brought my laptop and worked at the pool then did camp drop off. Not sure about this summer but it's the last summer that I try unless they are all in. I loved summer swim but my mom was a teacher and off work in the summer.

If they don’t offer it, you need to push your team to have later afternoon practices for pre-team/full team as an option. Carpooling, too, and you do pick up if that’s still too early. There are ways to do it, and summer swim was great fun for our kids.

I started an evening swim team group at my pool - but you can also hire a babysitter.

Our pool offers evening practices. Even for mini pre covid. Email some diff pools. See if that is an option for you

Summer swim is discriminatory to working parents.

As a kid who grew up doing swim team, I really wanted our child to do it. We jumped through hoops the first summer our kid was eligible to arrnage our schedule and looking back we regreted it.

Turns out that swimming laps exhausted them and it was just too much getting them to go to practice in the morning and then a full day of camp. The camp was complaining our kid was falling asleep. Looking back, we should have went to the pool a few time before swim season to better gauge if our kid was really that interested or could keep up with swimming before going all in on it.

We also discovered that some neighbors got together and would use one of their full time year round nannies to take the kids to swim and then drop them all off at the same camp afterward and families just paid the nanny directly for doing that. That did require some coordination and asking around but it's a idea for you.

^ our team also has evening pre team practices though, which might be a better fit at that age. Older kids also have evening practice options, but they can still be problematic for camps/work and are kind of an afterthought/better for occasional weeks than all season. For pre-team though, evenings are just fine.

Anonymous wrote:I have been looking at summer swim for DS who will be 6 and likely in mini swim. How do working parents do it when summer swim practices are everyday from June-July in the morning or around lunch?

This will be team specific, our summer swim team had practice times that were 4pm and later, with the latest times for the youngest kids because of the fact that they were reliant on parents to get them to practice. We also had some early morning options that allowed me to take my kid to practice and then drop them at camp before going to work. I had to flex a little with my work hours (and I have regular WFH days) but it was manageable.

We got babysitters for the swim season and then did camps the rest of summer. Split it with another swim team family

Hire a sitter for the weeks of swim team. Lots of HS kids willing to sit in the summer.

I have been looking at summer swim for DS who will be 6 and likely in mini swim. How do working parents do it when summer swim practices are everyday from June-July in the morning or around lunch?