The things we do for our spawn...

[kyton]

I’m selling 2 houses so I can fund my 14 (almost 15) year old’s dream to become a racing driver. We live in Australia and he has just joined an American team to join the USF Junior series (junior Indycar) this year.

 

[soccerdad72]

The worst we ever did, driving-wise, was a year when a tournament fell on the same weekend as my nephew's (and godson) first communion day, which we couldn't miss. We drove up to Toledo (2 hours from our house) on Friday night, had a Saturday morning game, then skipped the afternoon game that day (with permission of his coach, of course ) so we could drive from Toledo to Pittsburgh for Mass, then dinner at my brother's house before heading back on the road to the hotel in Toledo and two games on Sunday. IIRC, I rented a car for that weekend to save some miles on my car.

 

[princesscinderella]

We really didn’t have a list of what we wouldn’t do’s before having kids but there’s been times where I’ve questioned my sanity with three kids running around. I used to call my husbands office to find out what time he was coming home so I could have some relief with an extra set of eyes. We really do have great kids and are truly blessed, they are all in their teens and we are just trying to keep them in a good friend group and to not try drugs/vaping which is rampant here. My son did want to try out for lacrosse (he’s a music kid not a sports kid) as a Freshman in high school. Gym time was 6am for those trying out he lasted about 3 days before he decided he didn’t have time for lacrosse.

My brother in law however said when my sister was pregnant that they would never have anyone else watch their kids they would alternate work schedules so they could watch him. That opinion lasted about 2 weeks after the baby was born and my parents were helping out and so were his and they alternate babysitting while they both work at the same time

 

[#1hoosierfan]

DS12 plays on a travel soccer team and his school team. DS14 runs cross country and track.

We are running them all over creation in fall and spring. Winter and summer are a bit better, but you still have indoor practices and conditioning a few times a week.

 

[NotUrsula]

And then there's "racing the bus", which DH purely hates, because he hates long drives. For reasons of team unity and so that no competition gets messed up when an athlete's family has car issues, the teams (our club has 5) travel together to/from competitions by bus (most times), or they fly. Parents who go to watch and support them travel separately. When it's a bus trip and the competition is over, it's a mad race to not lose sight of the bus, so as to get back home and be waiting at the rink parking lot to pick them up when the bus arrives. (I swear, it's like some kind of Keystone Kops farce.)

 

[prestoncaldwell]

She's had her own cell phone since she was 8. I don't regret it, she has proven herself extremely responsible and I've never even had to entertain the idea of confiscating it.

My wife lets her decide what she wants for dinner, regularly. I don't think I would do that personally, but she seems healthy LOL

 

[dez1978]

You sound like my friend whose kid has been cross-skating on 2 teams for 3 years now. Every year they SWEAR she's not doing it next season, and every year they cave. (We're doing it right now because of COVID quarantines, and it's brutal; ice time every single day and sometimes 3 different rinks in a day.)

Oh, and did I mention that the "season" runs from June thru March?

Oh, yes. I also swore we'd not be doing 2 sports at once. But for a min this year my oldest thought he wanted to play basketball instead of wrestling and I was really going to try to figure out how to make that happen. Thankfully he decided to wrestle instead lol. I thought wrestling season was long, geeze. It's only Nov to March.

I had a few nights during football this year trying to get my kids in 2 places in opposite directions at the same time where I had to ask friends parents to give one a ride. Living in such a small district, fortunately (or not depending on how you look at it lol) you get to know the other kids parents pretty well. One of my oldests friends lives just a couple of miles down the road from us so they brought him home a couple of times while I was at practice or games with the younger one. I am not sure what my kid thought was going to happen when he got home and no one else was there, but it took an act of god to get him to agree to it lol. Basically I ended up telling him he could either let them bring him home and be there alone for 10 mins max, or he could tell his coaches that he had to miss practice because he was scared lol. I know that sounds horrible, but it worked. And I ended up pulling into the driveway just after they did so he wasn't home alone at all. This year tho they will be at practice at the same place/time but games might not be like that. Idk what will happen after this next year tho,

 

[dez1978]

She's had her own cell phone since she was 8. I don't regret it, she has proven herself extremely responsible and I've never even had to entertain the idea of confiscating it.

My wife lets her decide what she wants for dinner, regularly. I don't think I would do that personally, but she seems healthy LOL

Mine both have ipads and are on my unlimited data plan so its really not any different. Yet for some reason when my 10 yr old asks for a phone I immediately say no. That may change next year tho.

 

[prestoncaldwell]

Mine both have ipads and are on my unlimited data plan so its really not any different. Yet for some reason when my 10 yr old asks for a phone I immediately say no. That may change next year tho.

Oh she also has an ipad, a samsung tablet, a PC laptop and a macbook air. My parents would never buy us tech (there wasn't much anyway), but I think it is essential for her to master it in order to compete with her generation.

 

[dez1978]

Oh she also has an ipad, a samsung tablet, a PC laptop and a macbook air. My parents would never buy us tech (there wasn't much anyway), but I think it is essential for her to master it in order to compete with her generation.

That has always been my thoughts when anyone would say anything about kids having tablets. They have had them in school since preschool and this is the tech they'll use growing up. They don't have any of the other stuff tho. Just Ipads and an xbox. They've never asked for laptops tho. I'd certainly consider it if they asked or had a use for it

 

[mjkacmom]

Our 5 were insanely over scheduled, I remember 7 - 8 games every weekend when they were little, dance 6 nights a week, 2 -3 teams per kid per season. The driving went from 4 - 10, very complicated, but large carpools so only a couple of trips for us each night. We never said no, but never made them do anything.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yeah, I think she was 7 when she got a phone. We didn't want her to be on the other side of the country and possibly stuck in an airport without a way to reach us if something happened to her coach's phone.

Also, it's better now that streaming competitions is a thing, but back then they all really wanted to call their parents afterward and tell us how it went, and there would be arguments over phone use. Now we get running commentary on the other divisions as it happens; so we stream it, and I get a constant, "did you SEE that??" on the phone at the same time. (Of course, when they're actually up their phones are powered down and put away for the entire flight; no stressing yourself out asking parents for the leaderboard scores while you're waiting in the tunnel.)

 

[neverlandsky]

.

 

[slo]

I can go on and on about the sacrifices we’ve made for DD18 to play elite softball so she can get recruited to play at the collegiate level. I wouldn’t trade one of those sacrifices in for anything. We have some of the best memories from our long road trips, crazy early mornings, me getting 2 teeth knocked out due to getting hit in the face with a softball (twice), doing without to save $$ for everything, the ER visits, getting lost and I can go on & on for days - not a single thing I would trade in.

My daughter just decided to get a tattoo to reflect her strength & resilience of being an athlete all these years and she’s putting mine & her Dad’s/my DH’s birthdates in her tattoo to reflect the support we’ve given her all these years. I was very emotional when she told me this. We didn’t do this for recognition, we did this/still do it because we believe in her, and how awesome that she’s so grateful that she’s tattooing it on her body. Now I’m getting emotional again

 

[emmybee]

Lazy mom here. I have a singleton because who wants the hassle? Not this gal. We aren't sporty, competitive people, so no waking up at the crack of anything for anyone. When she was a baby, she stayed up with me til 1 or 2 am, and then slept in w/ me until 9 or 10. I used to work until 11p, so that was perfect. I have since switched shifts, so I'm now a morning person living like a normal human. She has transitioned as well, lol.

The one change is around cell phones. I didn't think my kid should have one prior to covid, but I decided to give it to her last year. So primarily for socializing since there was no actual school going on. So far, no horror stories, but it does worry me when I see stuff on the news.

 

[prestoncaldwell]

That has always been my thoughts when anyone would say anything about kids having tablets. They have had them in school since preschool and this is the tech they'll use growing up. They don't have any of the other stuff tho. Just Ipads and an xbox. They've never asked for laptops tho. I'd certainly consider it if they asked or had a use for it

We fortuitously bought her the macbook just before the pandemic hit, and it was and is reserved strictly for school work. It served well when schooling from home. I specifically did this because I wanted her to habituate to having a work computer and a personal computer.

 

[Mysterian]

Somethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomething
crotch goblins somethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomething omethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomethingsomething

Dez1978, you win phrase of the day!

 

[tvguy]

good grief. A 6 am game??? and here I complain about tournaments that start at 9. We have to be there for weigh ins by 8 tho.

I spent many a cold damp, foggy November Saturday morning at 6 am chalking soccer fields for my daughter's team for their 8 am game. Some how every year her team had the first game on the fields and were home team, and home team was responsible for setup. 8 games every Saturday, 4 pm home team was responsible for tearing everything down.

 

[Lilsia]

Oh she also has an ipad, a samsung tablet, a PC laptop and a macbook air. My parents would never buy us tech (there wasn't much anyway), but I think it is essential for her to master it in order to compete with her generation.

At elementary age, having that technology is not going to affect their life at all. When they are going into Junior/senior high, that is a good time to introduce them to the technology. It is amazing how fast they pick it up. My kids are 20 & 21 and did not have any of that stuff growing up but they picked it up faster then we did. The main issue now is that many schools now use computers so they already get an introduction to it.

 

[tvguy]

When my son got his license my husband was actually sad because he wouldn’t need to pick him up after practice anymore.
I always got excited for a new season. I missed it for a long time but I’m past it now.

Yup, the minute my kids turned 16 they got their licenses and a car. My wife still went to almost all their games, we just didn't have to be there two hours early.
When my son was 13 he was invited to play on a USSSA 13 year old baseball travel team. Estimated cost of travel/hotels/food was $7,500 per player and their first game was in Dallas.......as in 1,700 miles from here! He declined. Team ended up the 13 year of USSSA World Series, and with the extra playoff games and travel, the tab per player ended up at about $13,000 per player for a 9 week season