how late do your kids practice

[mnrose]

This is something DH and I are struggling with with DD. She is involved in a dance/musical theater program which practices 11+ hours per week, sometimes until 8:30 or 8:45 at night. By the time we get home, it is after 9. Since she must get up at 6 in order to get to school the next day, it is hard for her, not to mention the homework thing! Now, she has added one act play to the mix, and practices 2 hours + every night after school. She has competitions that run until 9, at places an hour to an hour and a half away. On school nights! Who does that? I think it's absurd to schedule these things that late at night when those kids won't be in bed before 10:30 and they have school starting at 7:30 the next morning!

Anyway, it would be my strong preference that these things end so that kids can be HOME no later than 8:30. That allows them some decompression time and still in bed by 10:00.

It could be worse though. My neighbor's son is in hockey, and it is hard to get ice time in our area. His son has practices which START at 9:30 at night. Crazy.

 

[mjkacmom]

Well, I am extremely unhappy with the fact that my nine year old has travel soccer practice from 7:15-8:15 every Tuesday night. I know that doesn't seem ridiculously late to many, but her bedtime is 8:00pm as she has to be awake by 6:45am. Not to mention the fact that I have to bring her two younger siblings along to practice on the occasional Tuesday that my husband happens to be traveling for business. Ultimately, this results in the kids getting to bed after 9:00pm. Sleep is essential for children and the fact that this is not valued by many is just too bad.

Your practice time is ridiculous, even given the age of your child.

My DH has been coaching rec and travel soccer every year for over 10 years. There are only so many fields for so many teams! Do you have to be at practice yourself? Most parents here drop off at this age. Do you know any of the other parents? Can you carpool? Even for away games, DH will always offer to drive kids if their parents can't make it, or if they will be late. We live in a small town (geographically), and I know he'd have no problem driving a player home. Almost all of the parents carpool to some extent.

We even have a carpool for ds9's club team, where the home field is a half hour away.

 

[Ceila]

Well, I am extremely unhappy with the fact that my nine year old has travel soccer practice from 7:15-8:15 every Tuesday night. I know that doesn't seem ridiculously late to many, but her bedtime is 8:00pm as she has to be awake by 6:45am. Not to mention the fact that I have to bring her two younger siblings along to practice on the occasional Tuesday that my husband happens to be traveling for business. Ultimately, this results in the kids getting to bed after 9:00pm. Sleep is essential for children and the fact that this is not valued by many is just too bad.

Your practice time is ridiculous, even given the age of your child.

In all fairness, though, nobody is required to participate in travel soccer (or insert whatever sport you child is in). You do have the option of not having her participate, or volunteer to get involved with the scheduling.

 

[Mkrop]

My DH has been coaching rec and travel soccer every year for over 10 years. There are only so many fields for so many teams! Do you have to be at practice yourself? Most parents here drop off at this age. Do you know any of the other parents? Can you carpool? Even for away games, DH will always offer to drive kids if their parents can't make it, or if they will be late. We live in a small town (geographically), and I know he'd have no problem driving a player home. Almost all of the parents carpool to some extent.

We even have a carpool for ds9's club team, where the home field is a half hour away.

This! There are only so many fields, fields with lights, indoor fields, pools, ice, gyms etc to go around. All these teams are fighting for their turn.

So the older the kid is, the later their practice. DS10 has basketball practice from 8-9 on Wed. DS15 basketball games are usually at 9. If DH isnt home, I either have to send him along with a carpool or drag DS10 out late. Then add in travel time and both kids are getting to bed late. It is important that our kids play a sport so we have to figure it out. Add travel time if the game is away...and late bedtimes. I prefer to be there for games(or one parent) in case anything happens plus I enjoy watching his team, but it has been a real struggle with the late games and having a younger sibling.


I tell some of my friends about the older one's times and they swear they will never have their kid play that late...ok then but then your kid probably wont play.

 

[packofjedis]

U16 travel soccer kid here. He practices twice a week until 9:00. It's a 30 minute drive home, 40-45 with the carpool.

Weekend indoor games. Most of ours this session start around 9:30. About an hour to run a game, plus that 30 minute drive home. So home by 11:00. And yes this is on a Sunday night.

Worst we've had was coming home from a tournament in Memphis that they made the finals. Drove straight home and most of the team got home after 1 a.m. on Monday morning. Everyone was saying how their kids had to be in school at 7 the next morning because in high school you can't miss.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I am killing time trying to stay awake, my kids at ski/snowboard club. They get off the slopes at 10 pick up at midnight.

I dont know that we could do that. My kids tend to stay up late but coming in the house so late at night disturbs everyone, mainly because the dog would bark and so on. My husband would have a problem with that.

My daughter cheers and tumbles. Cheer is no problem except for the away JV games. Rolling in between 10 & 11 pm on a school night is rough. She does have one tumbling class on Tuesday nights that's from 7:45 - 9:00pm. That's our only late night unless there is a game.

We have something going on every single day except Wednesday & Saturday.

 

[aprilgail2]

My girls dance until 9 three days a week (and until 8 the other days). Dd9's basketball team practices once a week from 8 - 9:30. Indoor practice time is limited during the winter - coaches get what they get.

.

That is the problem here too- court time is limited in the winter so they give the grade school kids the early court times and the Jr. High kids the later court time- by 8th grade their court time is 10-11pm during the weekdays! It really doesn't make sense because the younger kids don't start school until 920am and the Jr high kids start at 720 so they have to be up WAY earlier than the younger kids!
Now the latest my daughter tends to have theatre rehearsals is 9pm.

 

[marcyinPA]

My kids aren't in sports, but are theater/music kids. When is is close to show time, my HS'er practices until 7 pm- but they start right after school at 3pm, and also on weekends.

The HS'er is also in church choir, and they practice once a week from 7- 8:30 pm.

My MS'ers practices are usually right after school until around dinner time. So far, no late nights with him.

 

[sam_gordon]

I agree it all comes down to field/court/pool/ice/stage availability.

 

[SpartansFan]

In all fairness, though, nobody is required to participate in travel soccer (or insert whatever sport you child is in). You do have the option of not having her participate, or volunteer to get involved with the scheduling.

Of course we are not required to participate in travel soccer. It is midway through her first season and we have committed to an entire season and have already paid a ridiculous amount of money for the "privilege" of doing so. We will stick it out even though I think the scheduling is extremely skewed in favor of the older, more elite teams. This is a very large and established club. The coaches all have multiple teams and have made this their careers. My impression is that they shedule their own practices, or utilize on of the staff members to do so. There is no volunteering in that respect.

With that said, I have not complained to anyone other than my husband and now this board. I provided my opinion on the topic at hand. That is all.

 

[Momvic5]

Of course we are not required to participate in travel soccer. It is midway through her first season and we have committed to an entire season and have already paid a ridiculous amount of money for the "privilege" of doing so. We will stick it out even though I think the scheduling is extremely skewed in favor of the older, more elite teams. This is a very large and established club. The coaches all have multiple teams and have made this their careers. My impression is that they shedule their own practices, or utilize on of the staff members to do so. There is no volunteering in that respect.

With that said, I have not complained to anyone other than my husband and now this board. I provided my opinion on the topic at hand. That is all.

I have to agree with you regarding giving favor to the elite teams. Our league favors my DD13's elite U14 team. Our coach gets first choice when it comes to field and field times. They practice from 6-8pm. However, they are on larger fields with bigger goals so the younger children (U12 and under) should not have a conflict with it.

 

[shoney]

OP here...

thanks for all the replies.

I had a funny feeling I wasn't alone in this. I think it is too late. By the time 8:30 rolls around on a Friday night, we are all shot. No one wants to leave the house!

This is his first year on this team. It is a travel B team. Guess what? the A team has the 7 to 8:30 slot! So I guess rank does count!

As for carpooling, I don't see anyone doing it. I don't know the parents at all. If we were truly in a bind (not I am too lazy to get off the couch!), I would reach out via e-mail. I have seen someone do that in the past. Honestly, I don't even know the coach, except a quick introduction at their very first practice.

thanks again!!!

 

[Sabeking]

Drop one off at 6:30 am for basketball and pick up one at 9:00pm for swimming. Makes a long day for mom!

 

[powellrj]

From what I have seen the last few years, most my kids coaches have jobs outside of their coaching and we have to work around their other jobs in terms of times.

 

[Ceila]

From what I have seen the last few years, most my kids coaches have jobs outside of their coaching and we have to work around their other jobs in terms of times.

Another very good point. Some coaches can't get to a field before 6 or 7 pm. And, I know our town always has problems recruiting coaches, so it's not a matter of just getting someone else who can be there earlier. Often, it's that person or nobody (or fewer teams with so many kids that playing time is minimal at best).

 

[BrerMom]

Every sport our kids have been involved with has been a cakewalk compared to high school drama. Practice can start anywhere from 3 to 6, depending on what group you are in, every single weekday for over two months. Practice is over when the director says it's over, usually around 10. Kids have to be at school by 7:30 the next morning.

Tech week is the week of opening night. Tech Sunday's practice is 1:00 to at least 10. Monday through Thursday has practice starting at 3:00 every day. If the director doesn't dismiss the kids by midnight, administration finally decreed that the director was required to give every kid an "Administrative Absence" for the next day. Kids were routinely dismissed at 11:45.

The kids did enjoy it and some even thrived on it. The biggest negatives that I saw was a lack of time for homework and most kids were sick by the time the show was over. If a student missed any part of the school day to stay home and sleep, they were banned from practice (or performing) that evening. Students regularly fell asleep in class as a result.

 

[tvguy]

Just got off FB. A "friend" just posted a picture of a frost covered baseball field......2 hours drive from her home........where her son has an 8:30 am traveling baseball game......in January.
Yep, they had to leave their house at 5:15 this morning to get there in time. While it is Saturday, with apologies to OP.....how EARLY is TOO EARLY for practices and games?

Flashing back to my daughter's soccer days when I had to be out at 6 am chalking the field for a 7 am game in the rain in November.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Well, I am extremely unhappy with the fact that my nine year old has travel soccer practice from 7:15-8:15 every Tuesday night. I know that doesn't seem ridiculously late to many, but her bedtime is 8:00pm as she has to be awake by 6:45am. Not to mention the fact that I have to bring her two younger siblings along to practice on the occasional Tuesday that my husband happens to be traveling for business. Ultimately, this results in the kids getting to bed after 9:00pm. Sleep is essential for children and the fact that this is not valued by many is just too bad.

Your practice time is ridiculous, even given the age of your child.

I agree with you. Many people, children and adults, do not get enough sleep, but our society in general just does not priortize it.

We changed my DS from a town basketball league to a YMCA one this year, and one of my main reasons was to get away from 9:00 practices and games.

 

[mjkacmom]

Every sport our kids have been involved with has been a cakewalk compared to high school drama. Practice can start anywhere from 3 to 6, depending on what group you are in, every single weekday for over two months. Practice is over when the director says it's over, usually around 10. Kids have to be at school by 7:30 the next morning.

Tech week is the week of opening night. Tech Sunday's practice is 1:00 to at least 10. Monday through Thursday has practice starting at 3:00 every day. If the director doesn't dismiss the kids by midnight, administration finally decreed that the director was required to give every kid an "Administrative Absence" for the next day. Kids were routinely dismissed at 11:45.

The kids did enjoy it and some even thrived on it. The biggest negatives that I saw was a lack of time for homework and most kids were sick by the time the show was over. If a student missed any part of the school day to stay home and sleep, they were banned from practice (or performing) that evening. Students regularly fell asleep in class as a result.

True, although ours is pretty structured until closer to tech week. Ds14 (and dd16) have been cast in the HS play, plus ds is doing crew and spring soccer. Should be fun. It's hard to be a sports parent, it's hard to be a theater parent (and choir as well - ds14 and dd16 have twice a week regional choir practices 40 minutes away), but having a sports/theater/choir kid is crazy!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

DS had an 8:45 hockey game tonight (Friday). We got home a little before 11. I don't mind on a Friday night if we can sleep in, but weekdays are hard. His next practice during the week is 8:15 to 9:15. These late practices make it impossible for the 13/14-year-olds to get the sleep they need.

My DS11 has hockey practice at 8:30 pm and doesn't get home until 10:00 and this is a school night!!! I hate that hour for that age. It should be for the much older kids. Thankfully it doesn't happen all the time.

I would take early morning practices over late night ones.