Anonymous wrote:If you think making it to practice is difficult when working in the office, try figuring out how to volunteer for all the summer swim-related activities! And here you thought the parents who never volunteered were just lazy freeloaders.

Omg that is so true. Getting home in time for afternoon B meets was a pain, let alone the pep rally and whatever else.

We could never make it work when the kids were young, as DH and I both had inflexible schedules in the office. We considered switching to a summer nanny, but weren't sure if the kids would really enjoy that, and they LOVED their summer camps. So we stuck with camps + extended care.

My job became a lot more flexible when our youngest was 10, so we signed him up then. It was rough for the first couple of years, but we cobbled together a variety of late starts at work, babysitters, time with Grandma, and partial days home with an older sibling. Camps were still limited then (first year post-Covid), so childcare was going to be a cluster-f no matter what.

Over the next couple of years he gradually started spending more of the day unsupervised after practice. By the time he was 12 or 13, we just had him walk home from practice and spend the rest of the day at home (or, more common, roaming the neighborhood and hanging out at the pool with friends). We were both at work by the time he finished practice.

If you think making it to practice is difficult when working in the office, try figuring out how to volunteer for all the summer swim-related activities! And here you thought the parents who never volunteered were just lazy freeloaders.

Anonymous wrote:OMG. Did you know that a lot of people have been working in offices for their entire career? Here are things that we and our friends do:

1. Early practice (7:30am) or late practice (6:00pm)
2. Summer camp with swim (some pools have camp after swim)
3. Summer nanny instead of full day camp
4. Carpooling with friends - last summer we alternated weeks with our neighbors with picking up kids from practice at 9:00, taking them to camp, and getting to work at 10:00.

lol. I've been reading so many threads about "how do you make it work with RTO". It's like parents have never worked in an office before. I'm 53. Prior to 2020, most people worked in an office and we made it work. It was normal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a ride with an at-home parent, or have an older kid walk yours if its in range. Express sufficient appropriate gratitude.

NO, you don't demand a stay at home parent take your kid daily. Saying thank you is not enough. You need to pay them, or do 1/2 in return or help in other ways. So tired of people like you taking advantage. You find a team that fits your work hours.

The PP didn’t say demand a sahm take their kid. Obviously you find a way to reciprocate or pay them.

We've always hired a sitter for the summer instead of doing camps so our kids can do swim team.

Anonymous wrote:Never been able to swing it. Summer nanny? Idk. Our pool doesn't do evening practice.

Then, you go to the county or another pool.

Anonymous wrote:Get a ride with an at-home parent, or have an older kid walk yours if its in range. Express sufficient appropriate gratitude.

NO, you don't demand a stay at home parent take your kid daily. Saying thank you is not enough. You need to pay them, or do 1/2 in return or help in other ways. So tired of people like you taking advantage. You find a team that fits your work hours.

Anonymous wrote:Summer sitter. Then do swim and have the kids hang out. Cheaper than camps.

And for all the parents who didn't do swim, how did you make it work in summer. Most summer camps start at 8, 9 or even 10. And they are done at 3 or 4.

We did camps that had aftercare. And drop off at 8-9, same as school. Same as during the school year, I went in to work early, DH went in a bit later so he could do drop off.

I was planning to get a summer nanny/college student for those weeks this year so we didn't have to do the early morning practice before camp. But I might lose my job before then, so we'll see - maybe I am the summer nanny.

There are a few different ways to make it work depending on the ages of your kids/ your location to the pool, etc. The easiest thing to do is hire a summer nanny who drives, at least for swim team season. But finding this person can be quite difficult. I always had the most success hiring younger teens, e.g. ages 13-15- they would walk to the pool with the kids and basically spend all day there. My kids LOVED these babysitters- they would get in the pool and play with the kids and really they all had a great time.

Never did it. But I know a couple of college girls that serve as nanny for just the summer and shuttle the kids.

Never been able to swing it. Summer nanny? Idk. Our pool doesn't do evening practice.

Get a ride with an at-home parent, or have an older kid walk yours if its in range. Express sufficient appropriate gratitude.

People are being kind of harsh. Just because it was hard for you doesn't mean you should with that same difficulty on other people.

Last year, I had almost no flexibility with my schedule because of a project I was on. We have another child with mild SN who does not do swim team so that mostly tied up the other parent. We did a combo of carpools and having a babysitter pick DD up after practice (we would drop off). There will be other families in the same boat who will hopefully be willing to help. If your team has a Facebook group, I would post there and ask.