Parents Juggling Acts

[Gymbletot]

I have spent the day in full on personal assistant to my 6 year old mode. Her gym is increasing hours for her group and moving training days around (she's thrilled), but it's like a domino effect on other activities :'-)

The lady I spoke to at swimming was super nice and has moved things around for us, and we've managed to avoid clashing with her little brother's activities... but it just hit me that this juggling act is likely a long term feature!

So I'm interested to hear about your personal juggling acts. For us it's swimming for both children, gymnastics x 2 and an after school club for dd and then 2 x dance classes, drama and piano for ds, around two full jobs!

 

[gym_dad32608]

My shortest and cleanest response: "It takes a village"

For real, whether that's an extended family or close friends, work partners or just nannys/sitters that you inherently trust. That has honestly been the only way we have been able to survive, along with not seeing my wife too often lol.

 

[GymDadWA]

We have taken teammates to the gym and meets and asked other parents to help us. I think eventually everyone involved with team gymnastics understands the challenges of making it work and is happy to help.

 

[MuggleMom]

I joke I am a part time uber driver for my kids. Oldest does gym 20 hours youngest does baseball in fall and spring. Both do Ukulele lessons. Add on homework getting to and from school and activities with friends..... sigh. These times are fleeting though I think about how little I will see them once they start driving.

 

[Scream4IceCream]

Yep! Everything revolves around the gymnastics schedule, which feels like it doesn’t come out until the very last minute. Then it’s a mad scramble to arrange everything else in our lives around it. As a practical matter, I know a lot goes into creating the gym schedule, but it’s so hard to plan anything in advance until we get it.

 

[Deleted member 26368]

Make friends with gym families in similar situations, it's one of the few ways to remain sane. That way, you have help with transportation and generally understanding of "that gym life", LOL. And, as mentioned, accept the fact that a lot of quality time with active kids WILL be spent in the car. I've created a special Spotify playlist for mine that we listen to driving to/from practice, games, meets, etc. My two are 11 and 13, so we pick favorite songs and continually edit the playlist. We also do podcasts sometimes.

Overall, though, it's a challenge but hey, my single mom juggled things for my family when I was young, too. This is a tale as old as time (or, at least, as old as cars and after-school activities).

 

[Gymbletot]

I am definitely trying to figure out if any of her gymnastics friends live in our direction for the future! We don't have family nearby so it is all down to us really, which is fine (not least thanks to flexible work that lets us pick up some hours from a gym waiting room ).