If your DC play 2 or 3 season sports...

[2ndtimearound]

What do your evenings (and weekends) look like? DD swims 2x week M W evenings, GS every other Tuesday evening, chess club for an hour right after school on Tuesdays, choir for 1.5 hours right after school on Thursdays, and takes a gymnastics class on Saturdays. I cannot see how we could possibly fit anything else given the homework load. Do your kids only do sports and no other activities?

[scrooks]

That sounds like a lot! My kids don't do a ton of activities but it seems like we try to keep it to 1-2 activities at a time. Like right now they are doing swim lessons but will take off the next session because softball and tball will start. They are young and haven't started playing year round sports yet so I suppose that factors in.

[AnnieW625]

Dd1 does swim one night (Monday 5/30 to 6/30) a week and ballet one night (Friday 6-7), and one weekend day (Saturday 10-11). She has a flute lesson on Tuesday (6 to 6/30). Wednesday and Thursday are her free nights and she gets irritated if you schedule something on those nights. If she ever decides to swim competitively then she will have a swim meaet once or twice a month; our swim school/club is pretty low key IMHO.

Dd2 has swim one night (Friday 6/30 to 7), T ball (Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:15, and Saturday 9 to 10), and gymnastics (Thursday 6 to 7). Gymnastics goes back to Saturday in May when t ball is over.

Neither of my kids are on competitive teams so I am not sure how much help I am.

[lovin2shop]

It's rough, two boys in sports and other activities. We currently have:
Monday - Destination Imagination (just finished though) and Baseball practice
Tuesday - Basketball practice for both
Wed - Church & Soccer
Thurs - open, we go out for dinner as a family
Friday - soccer practice
Weekends - games plus extra practices called by the coaches

Plus, middle school football and band (not in season). Basketball is year round for both boys, soccer 3 seasons for DS2.

I gave up a long time ago limiting them, but I do insist on us all eating dinner together almost every night. This requires me to cook a lot of freezer meals, use the crock pot, and a lot of take out.


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[okinawama]

Yikes, that's a lot. My boys are still pretty young (7 & 5), but I limit them to one activity per season and a one week camp in the summer. Maybe as they get older, we'll explore more, but for now, I can't imagine us adding more to our schedule.

[georgiegirl]

My kids only swim. DD has been on the swim team for 2 years and practices 3 nights a week, plus meets many Saturdays. I can't imagine doing another sport at the same time. (dS1 begins swim team in a few weeks.). I will add in tennis this summer for the kids.


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[mom2binsd]

DD swims three weekenights from 7-8:30, occasionally drama club in Jr. High afterschool. She gets most homework done during tutorial.

DS plays travel hockey, practices 2 nights a week, usually around 6-7, games most weekends, often up to 2-3 hours away, often both days. No other activities. Very little homework in 4th grade, probably not next year either.

[ahisma]

Both DS's play year round club soccer. They practice 2x / week. Here's their weekly schedule

DS1 (9yo): Soccer practice 2x, 1 soccer game, 1 guitar lesson, 1 boy's choir. Depending on the time of the year he also has Odyssey of the Mind and play practice. Our saving grace is that he has virtually no homework (rarely more than 10 minutes) and everything is very close to home. He's also in several school clubs (math team, chess, Harry Potter, poetry) but they all meet over lunch. That's how he rolls - he loves that level of activity.

DS2 (7yo): Soccer practice 2x, 1 soccer game, 1 music lesson. He's much more of a homebody and doesn't like to have too much on his plate.

[smilequeen]

My oldest plays travel hockey and select baseball, so those two sports fill up an entire year and require a lot of time. He will do one other activity usually, one day a week, typically a school related extracurricular, but that is it. Between the practices and games and private lessons for sports, things stay pretty busy, plus I have 2 other kids with activities.

[jent]

Since we have one DD, who loves activities, and DH has a flexible schedule and can bring her, she does a lot! This year we are a little pressed to make sure all homework gets done, but it's been working out. Her schedule looks like this:

Year round (except summer):
- Dance 1 afternoon/week
- Gymnastics 1x/week, in the early afternoon on her early release day
- Piano lesson, 1hr/week, in the home-- currently it's the same day as gymnastics
- Girl scouts, 1 after school weekend/month and 1 weekend activity/month

In fall & spring (~10 weeks each), she does recreation league soccer, with 1 weekday practice and 1 Saturday game.

Last year, we didn't have girl scouts, but had swimming for ~10 weeks in the fall on the weekends. I want her to do swimming again but I recognize it's too much, and she doesn't want to give any of the other activities up.

[daisyd]

For 7.5 yr old DS1 we do Basketball (in season), chess (in season), piano, swim and gymnastics once a week, soccer (in season) and taekwondo twice a week. It feels like a lot esp now that DS2, 3 yrs is starting swim lessons. A lot of these activities though occur in our Rec department and I only have to provide transport for 3-4 activities. That said it is expensive and DS has been asking for some free time, so we recently rearranged his schedule to have an afternoon and morning off in the weekend. We'll likely drop 1-2 activities for next year and more the following year when he will pick which ones he will stick with. He is asking to add an instrument and I'm torn between encouraging him and drawing the line (he needs down time, it's expensive and the logistics of transport is tough).

OP, how old is your DC?

[squimp]

It depends so much on the kid. My DD did at least that much at that age. She likes being busy, could get her homework done and it worked for her. She played 3 sports one spring.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Our afternoons/early evenings feel busy, but not too busy. My kids want to be doing activities, and the grandparents give us money for extracurriculars. I want them to try stuff and get instruction (that I didn't have) so they feel like they have a shot at playing it later if they want to. My biggest thing about activities is DINNERTIME. We really strive to have dinner as a family every night.
M - Bible Study at 6:30 (DH and I want to, so kids have to go)
T - Kindermusik for DS2 4-5pm, was choir for the older two, but driving back and forth got old, and DD didn't get a part in the play so we laid out this semester.
W- usually swim team 4-5:30, will be replaced by soccer 4-5 in coming season
Th - nothing, except monthly meeting at school 5:30-7:30. I try to eat with them at 5, then go
F- sometimes dinner at the ILs'
S - will be soccer games, was basketball games in winter, then will be summer swim meets

We have to have everything on our google calendar. Your question was about multiple sports, and I guess we try not to overlap TOO much. DC are signed up to play soccer, but they all had a great experience with baseball last spring and want to do it again. It will be THREE different team schedules to overlay on our calendar, but I'm tempted to actually let it happen just because it it was so much fun. I asked another mom at school whose DH coached my older 2 how they make it work with 3 kids playing travel and rec teams, him coaching 3 different teams, etc. (!) and she said "lots of looking at the calendar, making sure everything fits, having to choose which event to attend, and LOTS of crock pot meals." I told her about the Instant Pot and she was intrigued. :) May have to send her the link.

[acmom]

I have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener and although they both love sports and other activities, we try to keep our schedule manageable bc neither of them likes to be busy every day (and I don't either!). We also try to do family dinner most, if not every night.

DD (7) does dance 1x a week year round and has also done 6 week sessions after school basketball, art and music at various times. In the fall, she did running club 1x a weekend for 6 weeks. In the winter, 6 weeks of ski lessons on the weekends. In the spring, softball which is 2x weeknights. During times we don't have those seasonal sports, she does sessions of tennis on Saturdays.

DS (5.5) isn't quite as busy, but does soccer in the fall (1x a week), skiing in the winter (1x week), and baseball in the spring (2x a week). He also did the after school basketball league this winter (1x a week) and sessions of tennis with DD.

We basically try to keep it to 1 or 2 sports at a time. DD would love to add music or art more consistently, but also doesn't want activities every day. I know it is going to get much harder as they get older (and we add a baby this summer!) and each activity requires more time - I am not looking forward to that!

[Meatball Mommie]

It depends so much on the kid. My DD did at least that much at that age. She likes being busy, could get her homework done and it worked for her. She played 3 sports one spring.

This, definitely. My niece wants to play multiple sports, participate in clubs and volunteer for everything. She is 12. My son, also 12, NEEDS down time or an "off day". They both play ice hockey at a high level, but manage the rest of their time very differently. They go to the same school so they have the same amount of homework, etc.

I think it also depends on the age. When my kids were younger, we definitely did only one or two things at a time (piano + hockey, piano + soccer, swim + tennis, etc.) Now, even though they are close in age and have similar interests, the fact that they are on different teams and have different friend sets makes their schedules vastly different.

FWIW, our typical schedule is:

Hockey season:
MON: both boys have hockey skills (5 pm and 7 pm) at a rink 40 min away from home
TUE: both boys have hockey practice (6 pm and 7 pm) same rink
WED: DS2 (10) has indoor soccer skills (6 pm) - DS1 off - DH has hockey
THU: DS1 (12) has hockey practice (7:30 pm) - DS2 off
FRI: DS2 has hockey practice (6 pm) - DS1 off
SAT: both boys usually have hockey games - sometimes up to 2 hrs away from home - never at the same rink so DH and I split
SUN: boys sometimes have hockey games - DS2 has indoor soccer game in evening

Now that we're in the off season, DS2's soccer season starts up again. He plays for his school (FRI practice + SAT game) and for a club team (MON/WED/FRI practice + SUN game).
DS1 used to play lacrosse but stopped last year because he played on a spring/summer hockey team. He's not doing that this year and we're looking into tennis and golf lessons. Just need to find the right location. He still is having tryouts for next hockey season, so we're just waiting a week or so.

My niece on the other hand plays on 2 hockey teams (1 full time on a girls team, 1 alternate position on coed team) plus plays club soccer. And her younger sister does the same except she's a full time player on 2 hockey teams (vs. being an alternate) and attends soccer goalie training on top of it all. My BIL/SIL's schedule is nuts.1

[almostmom]

Yes, our evenings are ridiculously busy. We don't have dinner together, but that's a dream we gave up long ago! My kids never want to eat the more gourmet meals I make, and I try and make somethign once or twice a week that we can eat together, but honestly, that doesn't always happen. We connect in other ways...!

Monday and Tuesday nights DD is out until at least 7:30 doing gymnastics. She can do her minimal homework before she goes usually on Mondays, Tuesdays can be tight.
Wedesdays are open right now - phew!
Thursday - music lesson for DD at 6:30, Baseball or basketball for DS
Fridays - free for now (DD did have basektball in the winter)
Saturdays and Sundays - basketball games for both in the winter, baseball games for DS in the spring

Basically almost every night I am trying to get them some dinner food before they run out the door for a practice! It's not easy, but they love the things they do. My kids do love their downtime, and I think they get enough on the weekends, even if they have games. But it's a busy life... Right now my kids mostly do one sport per season, as they've begun to choose their favorites on their own. Doing soccer, baseball and gymnastics in a season was just too much for me, and they were tired too. So it's worked itself out.
tha

[daisysmom]

My kids only swim. DD has been on the swim team for 2 years and practices 3 nights a week, plus meets many Saturdays. I can't imagine doing another sport at the same time. (dS1 begins swim team in a few weeks.).

Swimming is also our primary sport - DD (third grade) swims three days a week (M, W and Thu) for 1.5 hours each time, in addition to meets many weekends, and this is a year round program (well, August is off). But she also does a hip-hop dance class for an hour every Tuesday (Sept-May) and does girl scouts that is mostly 1 Thurs. a week. Once summer comes, we also do summer swim team at our country club which has practice for an hour every morning and meets every Monday night.

We have been pretty lucky this year - homework is between 10-30 minutes plus 30 min of reading and she is such an avid reader (esp on the weekends), that I don't enforce the nightly 30 min requirement. I think that growing in a sport is so so so important to kids, for health, learning about dedication, losing, winning, etc. so I am a big fan of keeping the swim team commitment (at least until before school practices which start in highschool).

Both DH and I are busy people... I wouldn't call us overcommitted, but we thrive on activity. So DD is growing up the same way. I don't see that changing, but I do keep an eye out for when she is really tired. We took a week off of swimming once this fall just to get some extra rest and we have this next week off for spring break (and we took 2 weeks ago off for our private school spring break). It all works out. We don't watch much TV or have any video games, but I like this path we are on.

[abh5e8]

Op, that is a lot! I think we are busy. :) mine are in 3rd, 1st and two in preschool. My oldest, dd1 is 9/3rd grade, has ballet twice a week and swims three nights a week. Ds2 is 7, 1st grade, swims every night (by his choice). He will add baseball this spring/summer two nights a week and cut back on swimming. Ds2 is five, kindy next fall, will play baseball this spring/ summer two nights a week. Ds2, age 5, and dd2, age 2.5, have swim lessons one morning a week. 4h is one night a month, every one together. The older 3 are also in weekly piano and art classes. But these are afternoon times and we homeschool, so I count them more in our school day.

Thankfully swim practice and ballet are early, over at 530 and 545 and 10 mins from our house, so we sit down for dinner together afterwards. When baseball starts the boys will be on the same team. We will sometimes pack dinner and eat at the game. It's busy, but works for us, in part because the kids have down time in the afternoons at home. Also, dh is home full time and I get off work at 400, occasionally 430, with a ten min commute.

[essnce629]

DS1 (12.5) was doing swim team 5 days a week plus one day of fencing. He just quit swimming, added an additional day of fencing, and started guitar once a week. So he only has stuff 3 days a week now instead of 6.

DS2 (6.5) alternates basketball and soccer as they are opposite seasons. There is no way he could do two sports like that at once as the games on weekends would conflict even if we managed to do opposite practice days. So he currently has soccer practice twice a week, games once a week on Saturdays, and fencing (same days as DS1) once a week. That's 4 days a week of stuff for him.

Our nights are way less busy now that DS1 has dropped swimming. His guitar teacher comes to our house so I can do dinner while he has his lesson which is awesome! We eat dinner at home as a family (me and the kids) every night except Wed which is when we go to eat at Ikea immediately after fencing. We have one week night a week (Fri) with no activities.

[MSWR0319]

Right now our schedule is:
Mon - dance for 30 minutes
TUes - 45 minutes of soccer
Wed - an hour of baseball
Sat - soccer game

He's also in 4-H which is only a few hours a month.
DS is 7. We are in between swim seasons right now. I let him do more than I wanted but he needs to be busy. He has sensory issues and he's a seeker so these activities really help him. Starting in May he'll have swim conditioning 3 days a week and ball two nights. This summer he'll swim 5 days a week in the mornings plus baseball 2 nights a week.

[belovedgandp]

Totally depends on the kid. My oldest thrives on the activity level and is extremely bright in school so homework has never been a big issue. But DC2 is more of a homebody and much prefers playing outside after school. DC2 is much more selective on what he participates in.

BUT we are also never home. We are saved because I am a SAHM and DH does most of his work based on a timezone an hour a head of us. His commute is less than 15 minutes, so he has to leave by 6:30 am at the latest but I'm almost guaranteed he's in our driveway by 4:45. We regularly eat dinner at 4:45 or 5:00 to make the activities happen.

For a while last spring we had our three kids at 19 different places Monday through Friday nights. A few of those were more than one child at the same place at the same time so I only counted those once. DC1 had 10 distinct sessions - soccer practice (2), TKD (2), TKD instruct, weapons class, Math Club, Running Club, Chess Club (fortunately those three were right after school), Church School of Religion. Church and two of his four TKD things overlap with DC2. DC2 and DC3 overlapped swim lessons.

Then we'd throw in soccer games on the weekends and average every 8 weeks for a day long TKD event on the weekend.

It's not for the unorganized that's for sure. In that mess we only had one night we had to eat dinner in shifts with three of us starting and the other two coming in 25 minutes later as we headed out the door.