If you want your kids in team and your pool doesn't offer it, find a different pool.

When the kid was little, we carpooled and alternated late days in the office. So I would take them to morning practice, drop them at camp and go to work late and stay late once or twice a week.

Anonymous wrote:My god, you WFH people don’t know how to figure anything out. Surely you know others in your situation. I was in the office, 8-5, while my kids were young.

NP. I would argue that asking what works for other people/seeking tips and advice is part of “figuring it out.”

I think most if not all of our summer swim team are working parents and everyone volunteers. Our preference is Saturday morning A meets bc it’s just easier. I’m an early riser so I like set up. My H usually times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Huh?
I volunteer a lot with summer swim team (team rep) and work full-time in the office with a 30-45 min commute. No excuse not to volunteer.

2nd half timer / table worker is my usual. Babysitter or grandma gets kids to the pool to warm up. I get there just in time to see them swim. As soon as their backstroke heat is over, I change into my blue shirts and white polo shirt.

I love volunteers like you! Thanks for doing your part even though it’s difficult and tiring.

here is the other thing about summer swim- with so many schools getting out so late, and NVSL having moved the season up a few years ago you are really talking about 4 weeks of morning practice for summer swim. Maybe 5 weeks if your kids swim in divisionals. Maybe only 3 weeks if you are at an Arlington pool and your pool isn't starting morning practice until June 23rd. You don't have to manage this for the entire summer- you need to manage it for 4 weeks. So take a week off for week 1, let your kids enjoy being out of school, hanging at the pool etc. Week 2 and 3 maybe hire a teen. Week 4- see how summer swim is going. If kids are highly motivated and doing great, get them up early and go to the early morning practice before camp. If they are not having a great season, blow off that last week of practice.
Or get together with other parents in similar situations. Each agree to take a week where they will take kids to practice, drop them off at camp, and then go to work late.
Obviously there are lots of permutations of this- you have to figure out what works for you- but there is a way to make it work if you want to.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Huh?
I volunteer a lot with summer swim team (team rep) and work full-time in the office with a 30-45 min commute. No excuse not to volunteer.

2nd half timer / table worker is my usual. Babysitter or grandma gets kids to the pool to warm up. I get there just in time to see them swim. As soon as their backstroke heat is over, I change into my blue shirts and white polo shirt.

Instead of camps, we’re getting a summer sitter during swim season. We’re walking distance from the pool.

Anonymous wrote:And if you think you can make it work with just afternoon practice, get ready for practices that are usually half-assed coached, always overcrowded, and rarely conducive to improving as a swimmer. And all the social and pep stuff is after morning practice.

So short answer - unless you hire a nanny to continue the pre-RTO routine for your kids, expect their summer swim experience to be drastically different.

There is not much coaching. You have to do lessons and year round.