Parents Team summer practice and being a working parent.

[Gymmom3985]

Evening everyone!

New to chalk bucket but not new to gymnastics. We are considering a gym switch for DD. However I recently went back to work and this will be the first year that I am working during the summer.

I have always been available to take her to her current team summer practices, but I'm struggling to figure out how to make this work now that I'm back to work. New gym would be a 45 minute drive smack dab in the middle of my working hours. DH works from home but he really isn't available either.

How do you two parent working homes manage this shift in practice times?

 

[GymnastMomX2]

It’s hard as a working parent, I work full time and as of this year am required to be back in the office 3 days a week. I’ll start my workday from home early, then drop my daughter off on the way to the office, then use my lunch hour to pick her up, and then finish my day from home. It makes for a longer work day for me with the breaks, but it I what it is. We live 30-35 min from gym and I’m 45 min from my office. It’s not convenient at all.

 

[bookworm]

We hired a college kid to transport my girls on the days i worked as we were 2 hours each way … then they would go to the beach a lot of the days after their 5 hour practice and come home.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

My husband is a stay at home dad, and he assists with transportation for several teammates during the summer training schedule.. sometimes a teammate is dropped off on her parent's way to work, or we pick up from their house as needed, etc. Always seems to be an extra kid or two when I get home from work. Is there anyone on the team that can assist?

 

[NutterButter]

It's hard! We made it work by carpooling with other families but often this was problematic due to people's vacations and the need to fill in or cover when someone was gone. If I had to do it all over again I would outsource and hire a college student.

 

[txgymfan]

For those of you considering hiring a college student ( or any other child care provider/ driver) plan to pay them for their mileage at the IRS rate from your home to the gym and back and for their time from the start of the drive until they leave your home. Even if your caregiver has time to do personal things during they need to be paid for their availability to pick up your child at a moment’s notice and be available if practice is canceled, your child gets sick, or any other reason that they may need miss. The other option is to hire separate people for drop off and pick up but you won’t have coverage for the practice hours if needed.