Working parents and extracurricular activities

If you have kids ages 6-14 and you/your spouse work full time and both don't get home til 5 or 6 pm or later do your kids have activities like sports on weekdays? How do you get them to more than 1 activity/practice per week? If you just don't have them in weekday activities do you feel like they are missing out?

I am wondering how parents do it, esp in my company where the higher your position the more hours you put in/later you work.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

My husband coaches my daughters soccer team so he schedules practices based on his schedule and games are on weekends. My girls each do dance classes which start at 5:30 after I'm home.

It is very stressful. Sometimes the way things are scheduled it's like they don't take into consideration that parents have to work.

Working parents and extracurricular activities

My daughter did non-competitive cheerleading for six years (think little league). I was her coach so I scheduled practices for 6:30 pm to accommodate all the working parents. It was tough even getting there by that time. My son did scouts, and that didn't start until 7, so that worked for us. But there were times when we had to lose out on an activity because of the practice times, and it sucked. I just always kept my eye out for flyers coming home and I would call to see when practice times were so I knew not to bother if we couldn't do it.

People always offered to take my kids, but I would never burden another parent like that so I always declined.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

We can only do weekend things

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

Everything has been at night or weekends.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

DS is 5 1/2 and we've already decided that we are not going to be those parents making ourselves crazy and spending money we do not have on all of these extracurricular activities.

It's not necessary.

He's in one activity now that is at night and on weekends and that alone is a huge committment.

DH also I think took on a coaching role way too early into it and now can't get out of it.

We of course will give him opportunities but not at the cost of the above.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

I am not a FTWM but many of my DD's friends are. By me there are a lot of grandparents, nannies. They take the child to their extra curricular activities. Also many carpool. So they go home with another child in the activity who picks them up from school that day, and brings them to the activity. Then either the parent picks them up or sometimes they go home with that same parent.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

Im lucky I work in a high school, so my hours are 7-2, and I still feel like we do so much because I have twins and they both are doing their own activities. Sometimes DH is home, and sometimes I use family to help out.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

We try to only do weekends activities to keep everyone sane. However we have found some that have 6:00 practice times that we can usually make.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

Most of my kids' sports are in the early evening or on weekends so we haven't had any issues with things conflicting with my job or my husbands.

As for whether or not extracurricular activities are necessary, of course they aren't. I just can't stand saying no to after school things because as a working mom I'm not very active in school events (on a regular basis. I never miss a special occasion.) so I try to say yes whenever I can. I run myself ragged, but their smiling faces make it worth it. Right now we are in the middle of ice hockey (2 kids) roller hockey (2 kids) and travel soccer (1 kid) and I'm dying for a break, but summer will be here soon and then we can relax more.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

It is definitely a balancing act for us, especially since we only have one car. Our park district does a great job of offering a variety of times/days for classes/activities. I personally would rather have activities during the week, so we can have flexible schedules on the weekends.

We try pick activities that start after 6pm. I work only 15 mins away from home, so I usually get home b/w 5-5:30pm depending on when I leave the office. I pick up the kids, give them dinner or snack and then pick up DH from train station.

DH is one DS' basketball coach, so he will do practice one night and I'll take our other DS to his activity practice the other night of the week. Everything is within 10 min of our house so we're not driving long distances in the middle of the week and the kids maybe go to bed 30 mins later than their usual time.

Working parents and extracurricular activities

DD is 6 and in baseball. They play on Saturdays and Sundays but they practice 2-3x a week during the week. Practices are always after 6pm though. We plan on putting her in gymnastics in the fall but those will also be Saturday classes.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

My almost 6 yo has no activities during the week. Just don't have time

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

Working parents and extracurricular activities

We keep a strict one activity at a time rule. And sometimes, like right now, the kids aren't enrolled in anything at all. School comes first, and if they can prove they can handle something in addition to school, then I'll consider it.

Re: Working parents and extracurricular activities

DS is 5 and played soccer and t ball this season. Practices were at 5:30/5:45 during the week. It was tough, but DH and I made it work. I arranged my schedule so I had meetings in the area and on days I couldn't get there, DH left work earlier than normal.

Working parents and extracurricular activities

Most of the activities have been on the weekends. They did overlap a bit so out Saturdays were hectic where we were rushing from one to the next (soccer overlapped with Tball and tennis). Track was on Sundays in May which sucked but DS liked it. Karate is on the weekdays and can be hectic to try to take him twice a week.

They are all done except karate. However, we signed him up for flag football in the summer which is on Wednesdays. My DH will take him since I will be working those evenings.

It can be stressful even if it's on the weekends but I was never in any of this stuff and I want to atleast have him try everything.