Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

They might like it, but they are keeping adult like work hours. Don't delude yourself. It's simple math. These kids are grinding away.

My quibble is with defining it as "work" hours. Yes, they are there until 5-5:30 but my kids aren't "working" at aftercare, "grinding away" (what kind of aftercare program are your kids in?!) They get a snack, maybe spend 15 minutes on homework, run around with their friends, start a soccer game, create something in the art room, and/or find a cozy spot to read in the library, depending on the day. It's what kids should have time to do -- unstructured, lightly supervised play with their peers. When I happen to pick them up early they complain because they aren't working, they are playing and it's more fun there than at home with only each other to play with. Maybe other schools are more regimented at aftercare but that's not the experience at our school.

These kids are exhausted. They don't get any downtime. Just calling a spade a spade. You do what you have to do, but to suggest that it is somehow ideal is laughable. If it were so ideal, then parents would spend the money and send their kids to aftercare even if they didn't work or even if they had access to home care. Parents have no shortage of money to do so if this was somehow an advantageous arrangement.

Op, only sign up for after school or after care activities if you have time. It takes time and patience to go here and there and get dinner. You don't want that everyday.

We do after care for all 5 days mostly between 3:30-6pm. and on one of those aftercare days, he has a karate class (paid separately). he needs to go to aftercare because we can't get home at 3:30 when school is dismissed.
he also has soccer practice on one afternoon but closer to the 5pm slot. soccer game is not on a weekday, thank goodness. Two days, he gets to play with his neighborhood friends after we pick him up about 6pm.

Anonymous wrote:On the nights you have activities, what to do you for dinner and do you have time to do the dishes? If you have two kids in different activities, does anyone take both kids yourself to the activities or does your spouse always take one kid?

Last night DD had ice skating. We stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and DD picked out raspberries, brie, mini pitas, hummus, and a coconut water. That was her dinner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

They might like it, but they are keeping adult like work hours. Don't delude yourself. It's simple math. These kids are grinding away.

My quibble is with defining it as "work" hours. Yes, they are there until 5-5:30 but my kids aren't "working" at aftercare, "grinding away" (what kind of aftercare program are your kids in?!) They get a snack, maybe spend 15 minutes on homework, run around with their friends, start a soccer game, create something in the art room, and/or find a cozy spot to read in the library, depending on the day. It's what kids should have time to do -- unstructured, lightly supervised play with their peers. When I happen to pick them up early they complain because they aren't working, they are playing and it's more fun there than at home with only each other to play with. Maybe other schools are more regimented at aftercare but that's not the experience at our school.

NP here. My children are enrolled in aftercare because I work an inconsistent schedule (full time, but the hours and location vary weekly). I usually am able to get my kids about 15 minutes after school ends, during which time they're eating a snack. Often times they ask to go to the school playground and about 5 minutes later, the aftercare kids come out to the playground after they are done eating. I've often arrived to have my kids BEG for me to go home so they can play with their friends. When they're at home, they usually argue with each other and do much less fun things than if they had stayed. Yes, aftercare can make for a long day, but for many kids, it's quite enjoyable.

FWIW, we only do activities on the weekends or on Friday nights (and yes, my kids are tired by then). This coming spring is the first time I'll consider doing a week day sport; we'll see how it goes.

Anonymous wrote:On the nights you have activities, what to do you for dinner and do you have time to do the dishes? If you have two kids in different activities, does anyone take both kids yourself to the activities or does your spouse always take one kid?

My kids each have one evening practice. One starts at 7pm so we do a quick dinner at home. One starts at 6pm and the coach picks up DS from aftercare (her son and a bunch of teammates are all at aftercare together so she just picks up all of them which is a huge help) and he has dinner after practice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

They might like it, but they are keeping adult like work hours. Don't delude yourself. It's simple math. These kids are grinding away.

My quibble is with defining it as "work" hours. Yes, they are there until 5-5:30 but my kids aren't "working" at aftercare, "grinding away" (what kind of aftercare program are your kids in?!) They get a snack, maybe spend 15 minutes on homework, run around with their friends, start a soccer game, create something in the art room, and/or find a cozy spot to read in the library, depending on the day. It's what kids should have time to do -- unstructured, lightly supervised play with their peers. When I happen to pick them up early they complain because they aren't working, they are playing and it's more fun there than at home with only each other to play with. Maybe other schools are more regimented at aftercare but that's not the experience at our school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

They might like it, but they are keeping adult like work hours. Don't delude yourself. It's simple math. These kids are grinding away.

LOL yes, the hearty snack, drawing and basketball on the playground are really burning the midnight oil. You can tell by the happy shouts you hear down the street.

On the nights you have activities, what to do you for dinner and do you have time to do the dishes? If you have two kids in different activities, does anyone take both kids yourself to the activities or does your spouse always take one kid?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

They might like it, but they are keeping adult like work hours. Don't delude yourself. It's simple math. These kids are grinding away.

DS (4th grade) is in aftercare until about 5:15 or 5:30 every day. This semester he's doing an electronics class one day a week in aftercare and has Scouts. Last year he did soccer and chess, as well, but this year we scaled back due to the uptick in homework. In the spring he'll do baseball, but he didn't want to play a fall sport this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 boys who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was miserable. We moved to an Au Pair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes the Au Pair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesn't have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were horribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.

Keeping a kid in school from 8:30 to 5:00 or even beyond is keeping adult like work hours, they may enjoy it, we may have no option but it's the truth that it's a long day for a young child.

10 year old DS is in aftercare. He does after school activities on Monday and Thursday at school (clubs at school) and in addition, does Cub Scouts and plays soccer.

We only do it because he asked to.

My kids go to aftercare and have weeknight activities. Yes they are over scheduled, but so far are happy and haven't asked to stop any activity so we do it. My older one gets most of his homework done in the first part of aftercare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 bous who love sports. We tried after care for one year and it was misesrable. We moved to an AuPair so our boys could play with their friends at the playground, come home, do homework, relax, and then go to their sports practice. Often between the 2 boys each season they play one travel sport and one rec sport, so basically running 2 sports each (total of 4 ) each season.

Yes thr AuPair is expensive, but my bottom line can take a hit so that my job doesnt have to intrude on their childhood. To put it honestly, a child in aftercare is keeping adult like work hours. That one year, my boys were hotribly exhausted and DH and i were always in a frantic rush. No more of that.

Well, good for you if you can afford it. Unfortunately for a lot of us who do after school care, this is not the case. Just realize that you are one of the lucky ones.

And, PP's kids' experience of aftercare as exhausting and "adult like work hours" is not every kid's experience of aftercare. My kids love it there and ask to stay for it even on days I work at home because they want to play with their friends.