The things we do for our spawn...

[dez1978]

You remember back when you were a perfect parent, you know, before you had kids? Those things you said you wouldn't be doing when you were a mom/dad... Or that "my kids will never..." and now your kids are running around nevering like they've never nevered before? You know, the things that you hear a pregnant woman say that you have to stop your self from laughing out loud about. Like "there will be no plastic toys in my house!" What things do you do for your kids that you said you'd never do? Or that you said they'd never do that you decided either wasn't worth the fight or was stupid to thing wouldn't happen to begin with?

Mine are: I was not going to be running my kids all over the countryside for sports and stuff. Now my crotch goblins are in wrestling and we got up at the butt crack of dawn on Sunday to be at a tournament 3 hours away by 8 am.

My kids will eat what I make or be hungry. Let me just take a second to laugh at my former self for that one. Firstly, I don't even want to eat what I made sometimes. Secondly, I did not take into account that I'd have one child with adhd who eats like a bird and has food sensory issues. He's 10 and weighs 70 lbs soaking wet. At this point, I make what ever he will actually eat enough of to keep him from losing weight.

There are a ton more I'm sure.

 

[soccerdad72]

I still have never gotten up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to a sporting event at 8am.










































I'd get a hotel room the night before instead...

 

[dez1978]

I still have never gotten up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to a sporting event at 8am.










































I'd get a hotel room the night before instead...

We've talked about that. But then we have to pay to board our dogs. And that gets expensive

 

[georgina]

Well there's a new term I haven't heard before - crotch goblins? I'm afraid to google it.

 

[kymom99]

I still have never gotten up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to a sporting event at 8am.










































I'd get a hotel room the night before instead...

Same

 

[design_mom]

I've gotten up in the middle of the night to drive to youth sporting events. The earliest I remember is getting up around 3am to get to a 6am hockey game that was an hour and 45 minutes away.

I did it for similar reasons as the OP: Paying $100+ for a hotel + paying to board the dogs (plus the extra time to drop off/pick up dogs during the kennel's appointed hours) just makes the day all that more expensive and complex. Plus, in this particular instance, it was a one-off game, not a tournament weekend or anything, so we were done before 8am. (We also might have had something going on the night before the game, too. It was a number of years ago and I don't really remember now.)

 

[dez1978]

I've gotten up in the middle of the night to drive to youth sporting events. The earliest I remember is getting up around 3am to get to a 6am hockey game that was an hour and 45 minutes away.

I did it for similar reasons as the OP: Paying $100+ for a hotel + paying to board the dogs (plus the extra time to drop off/pick up dogs during the kennel's appointed hours) just makes the day all that more expensive and complex. Plus, in this particular instance, it was a one-off game, not a tournament weekend or anything, so we were done before 8am. (We also might have had something going on the night before the game, too. It was a number of years ago and I don't really remember now.)

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.

Yeah boarding the dogs usually costs more than a hotel room bc we'd have to pay for 2 full days. Any pick up after 3 pm counts as another day. So it's usually around 120 to board them dropping off friday evening and picking up Sat late afternoon.

I complain about getting up and doing all the running. But I do enjoy watching them succeed after working so hard. I don't like watching them wrestle. Like I have to tell myself to breathe and I had no idea it was such an emotional sport. Football is more fun but also more dangerous.

 

[bethbuchall]

One year my daughter had a swim meet 6 hours from here the day after her younger brother’s birthday, so we got up basically in the middle of the night to drive there so that I could do both the birthday and the meet.

 

[dez1978]

Well there's a new term I haven't heard before - crotch goblins? I'm afraid to google it.

I don't blame you lol. Sometimes I also call them crotch fuit, participation trophies, cupcakes baked by the devil.... Not to their faces of course lol

 

[kymom99]

Track and cross country meets start at ungodly hours. We had to get up early, for sure. Usually a couple times a season the team would get rooms and we would get one as well. It’s a lot of time for sure but so much fun, and the years go fast.

 

[HannaBelle]

I still have never gotten up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to a sporting event at 8am.

I'd get a hotel room the night before instead...

I was going to call BS with a name like "soccerdad72"! LOL

 

[dez1978]

Track and cross country meets start at ungodly hours. We had to get up early, for sure. Usually a couple times a season the team would get rooms and we would get one as well. It’s a lot of time for sure but so much fun, and the years go fast.

If my boys make it to state we'll have to get a room the night before. It's almost 4 hours away and I'm not doing that. And we'd be gone so long it wouldnt be fair to expect the dogs to hold it. I'm starting to really see the truth in the saying "the days are long but the years are short" It seems so hard to think that my kids are in 2nd and 5th grade already. Like it was just last year that the youngest started kindergarten lol. But somehow it also seems like I've had kids in school for 15 years already at the same time lmbo

 

[NotUrsula]

Ask any parent whose kid is involved in an ice sport. The unending quest for ice-time takes you all over creation at absolutely ungodly hours. We all keep survival kits in our cars.

The funniest thing to me is how we all rejoice and open our wallets the minute these kiddos are old enough to drive. After a decade or so of ice-sports, the pain of parting with the money for the car and insurance pales in comparison to the sweet relief of not having to drive an hour 2X a week--in winter-- to 4 am or 10 pm ice at some rink in the middle of nowhere, spending 3 hours sitting in the car (intermittently restarting the engine to keep it warm) until practice is over, because the rink doesn't have a lobby and you're not allowed to watch practice. I actually made and carry insulated window pads so that I can cover all the windows and sleep in the car without freezing to death. She'll finally be old enough to get her permit in 5 months!!!

 

[dez1978]

Ask any parent whose kid is involved in an ice sport. The unending quest for ice-time takes you all over creation at absolutely ungodly hours. We all keep survival kits in our cars.

The funniest thing to me is how we all rejoice and open our wallets the minute these kiddos are old enough to drive. After a decade or so of ice-sports, the pain of parting with the money for the car and insurance pales in comparison to the sweet relief of not having to drive an hour 2X a week--in winter-- to 4 am or 10 pm ice at some rink in the middle of nowhere, spending 3 hours sitting in the car (intermittently restarting the engine to keep it warm) until practice is over, because the rink doesn't have a lobby and you're not allowed to watch practice. I actually made and carry insulated window pads so that I can cover all the windows and sleep in the car without freezing to death.

So you shut your car off, then turn it back on over and over for 3 hrs? I just let mine run for 2 hours lol. DH laughs at me bc he'd just drive home while the kids are at practice. But to me it's 15 mins each way so 1 hr driving to be at home for an hour. I'd rather just enjoy those 2 full hours watching tiktok on my phone in peace in the school parking lot. Or read a book in absolute silence. The things moms do to get some quiet time lol

 

[kymom99]

If my boys make it to state we'll have to get a room the night before. It's almost 4 hours away and I'm not doing that. And we'd be gone so long it wouldnt be fair to expect the dogs to hold it. I'm starting to really see the truth in the saying "the days are long but the years are short" It seems so hard to think that my kids are in 2nd and 5th grade already. Like it was just last year that the youngest started kindergarten lol. But somehow it also seems like I've had kids in school for 15 years already at the same time lmbo

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.

 

[NotUrsula]

So you shut your car off, then turn it back on over and over for 3 hrs? I just let mine run for 2 hours lol. DH laughs at me bc he'd just drive home while the kids are at practice. But to me it's 15 mins each way so 1 hr driving to be at home for an hour. I'd rather just enjoy those 2 full hours watching tiktok on my phone in peace in the school parking lot. Or read a book in absolute silence. The things moms do to get some quiet time lol

Unless I'm sleeping, in which case the pads are up and I've got my down blankie to snuggle into. For practices at our home rink I just drive back home, because it's 15 minutes away, but 2X weekly the practice is at a rink that is 80 minutes away. Since the practice only lasts 3 hours, there's no point in coming back home, and very little is open at that time of the morning or night in that town; unless I want to hang out at a 24-hr gas station, LOL. (Ice and gasoline costing what it does, and burning a 1/4 tank on the drive, I try to conserve it during the wait.)

FWIW, we adults still do drive the early morning runs fairly often; it gets foggy out there, and it's hazardous for inexperienced teen drivers who are groggy at that hour, no matter how much coffee they mainline. Before COVID we could carpool, but that's problematic now, and it never did work that well for crack-o-dawn practices, when no one wanted to get up even earlier to drive around picking up other kids.

 

[dez1978]

Unless I'm sleeping, in which case the pads are up and I've got my down blankie to snuggle into. For practices at our home rink I just drive back home, because it's 15 minutes away, but 2X weekly the practice is at a rink that is 80 minutes away. Since the practice only lasts 3 hours, there's no point in coming back home, and very little is open at that time of the morning or night in that town; unless I want to hang out at a 24-hr gas station, LOL.

goodness. 80 mins for practice. Thats a long way. Thats some dedication there. I'd nope right on out of that. Or so I say... lol

 

[Lilsia]

My girls did not do any sports, they were into other clubs and activities. But those were at reasonable times and it was never an issue. You all know my stance on food, they ate what I put in front of them. They grew up wanting to try as many foods as they could. I never thought that I would be a perfect parent but I did try to expose them to as much as possible. We traveled with them, exposed them to different cultures and foods, etc. But there was plenty that didn't go "perfectly". Mama gets tired sometimes. LOL

 

[NotUrsula]

goodness. 80 mins for practice. Thats a long way. Thats some dedication there. I'd nope right on out of that. Or so I say... lol

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?

 

[sam_gordon]

My kids play soccer and we've done some 8am games (need to be on site by 7;15 or 7 depending on the coach). If the drive is much more than 90 minutes, it's hotel room. We can leave our cats on their own for a day or two.

Probably the worst was we were in Gatlinburg for a tournament. Our second game on Saturday was supposed to kick around 6p I think. But storms pushed us back to a 9:30p kickoff. The winner of that game played the loser of that game at 8am the next morning. Yes, the same two teams played less than 12 hours later with the only difference who wore the home jerseys and who wore visitors.