Parents What other activites do you kids do and what gets priority?

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Just wondering for those parents who have kids in multiple activities how you choose what your kids attend when there is a conflict. Does one activity get priority? Do you let you child choose?

DD wanted to play baseball and I let her. She goes to the gym 2 days a week and has 4 days that she can choose from. Coach doesn't care which two days she comes. I figured it would work out for the most part with a few conflicts. Well I was wrong. We got her practice schedule for baseball and they are practicing 3 nights a week! That leaves her being able to go to the gym one night only. I would have said no if I had known it required so much time. Her cousin played last year and only practiced once a week. That was what I was expecting.
 
I hear ya!! Gymnastics takes up so much time (at least this year it does). In May, my dd's team will move to Level A MDL and only practice 2 days a week (instead of the current 3)--I know, kind of weird--you would think that when they move up a level the practice time increases not decreases. This is because the MDL is a more relaxed league and it was created for the athletes that didn't want to commit all of their time in the gym but they could still compete 6 times a year in gymnastics meets.

They are also starting an all-star cheer program at the gym which WILL NOT conflict with any of the gymnastics (USAG & MDL) practice days. DD is VERY tempted to do this in addition to the gymnastics, but there may be a conflict come January when the cheer competitions and gymnastics meets MIGHT fall on the same weekend. So...there lies a conflict that is going to be hard to choose. Cheerleading is a team sport where all the kids are in the routine and needed and substitutes to fill in are usually not an option. So missing the cheer competition for a meet would put the cheer team at a disadvantage. But would she be willing to miss a gymnastics meet to do the cheer competition??? DD is also interested in doing cross country in the fall with the local running club, but their season is August to November which probably won't interfere with her gymnastics.

What I need to do is research everything first and find out when practice days are and try and get the competition/meet schedules and then decide if we will be able to swing it.

In your case ellabella, you may want to see if there is another baseball league that doesn't practice as many days. Maybe they put her on the travel team and that is why she practices so much? Maybe try and talk to the coach and see if there are any other options for her.

The schedule conflicts is probably the biggest headache of being involved with sports. My dd is getting older and interested in other things but doesn't want to necessarily "give up" the activities that she is involved in like the gymnastics. It is a tough call.
 
3 days per week is a lot for baseball. It is hard to schedule other activities with gymnastics. However, both of my younger 2 dd's play softball in addition to gymnastics. The younger one will play on a recreational league, and the older one is on a travel team. We never practiced more than twice a week with any of these teams, and once games start for the rec league there are no practices, only games, usually again twice a week. Fortunately younger dd is done with gym at 6pm, and the earliest game was at 6, so last summer she would skip gym sometimes or I would just pick her up early to go to the game. Older dd usually ends up missing one night of gym practice per week in the summer. Plus older dd just got done with her school's basketball team. They practiced twice a week too, and one of the nights was the same as a gym night. She usually went to basketball although sometimes she would do gym instead or arrive late or leave early from one or the other in order to go to both. We are so glad that BB is done now though. I don't think she cares to ever play that sport again. Thank goodness. One less activity to have to deal with now.

Long story short, usually we try to alternate what we miss. Plus, as long as both dd's were able to go to 2 nights of practice in the summer, I didn't usually worry if they missed the 3rd night. They aren't working routines in the summer anyway, only skills.
 
3 days of practice seems like an awful lot for a 4 yo trying baseball(is it t-ball?). Are there other leagues/programs you could check out regarding that? Sometimes, the "practices" end up being 1 practice with a game or 2 slotted in as practice. You might want to call to make sure dd is in the right program for her age.

I think its great to let the young ones try some different activities. She may love baseball or do 1 season and be done with it. Its also a nice way to make friends with kids outside of home and gym. Also a sport like baseball or soccer gives them the experience of working with others in a game.
 
It's hard juggling different sports huh? My DD only does gym,that's all she has ever wanted to do. She goes 17 hours a week and competition season can get very, very busy around our house. My son does karate and is a black belt, so he helps with teaching. During wrestling season at school he has to give up karate for a couple of months. The hard thing is that wrestling and gymnastics seasons are at the same time. From Dec. - April we have a meet or tournament nearly every weekend. If they happen to fall on the same day, then I go with our daughter and my husband goes with our son. It sounds a bit crazy, but it works for us. By the end of the season though we are exhausted!
The funny thing is the contrast between the two. Wrestling is gross! It's smelly, sweaty and just nasty. And a gymnastics meet is full of hair spray, glitter, good luck flowers, bouncy music, and pretty girls! And our son wouldn't be caught dead at one! haha!
 
3 days a week is a lot for baseball. I would look for a team with less commitment. She can still have a ton of fun whilst enjoying a new sport.

Even if you can manage to juggle it do you think she would truly enjoy 3 nights a week on a baseball team?
 
DD does enjoy dance as well as being a Girl Scout. Dance academy is at our gym so the two programs work very well together. When the two conflict gymnastics always wins and dance things are rescheduled. Girl scouts is easy because all the girls are involved in abunch of things, we now meet at 6pm on Sundays, a time no sports programs seem to have activities.

As she has gotten older it seems to get easier, so there is hope. DD is now 13 and almost everyone at her school has some activity to schedule around. Next year we move to High School and I am sure that it will bring additional challenges. Cate has had the same group of friends for 7 years so they know the drill. Friday nights are a no, saturday nights are open, so they schedule lots of activities for saturday nights. DD has been attending private school, so she is really looking forward to meeting up with her gym friends at high school.

Cate has always been totally committed to gym, so there have been few problems. When it's not meet season we miss a few classes for school dances and the like. She would like to join the dance team at the high school, she has an open invitation to be a cheerleader there, but she doesn't want to take the kidding at the gym. Even though we have a great and successful cheer team, the gymnastics coaches would not let her live it down. She was a cheerleader in 5th grade and they teased her about it for 2 years.
 
Just to clarify she is just playing tball. She is only 4! How can there be a less time committed team? Some of the kids on her team aren't even 4 until May. I just would have never thought they would practice this much. I think it's completely insane. I don't think any parent signing their kid up for tball would expect this. I think maybe she just got a crazy coach. I *think* they are really only supposed to have one practice a week that is assigned by the league. The other 2 practices are at different locations. The coach gave this speech about how they are in this to win and it's not just tball. I was like "What is wrong with this man?". These kids are going to be picking flowers and chasing bugs. I was very turned off by this attitude.

Her first practice was tonight and it was from 5:30 to 7pm. They are practicing tomorrow and I was going to have her skip because of gym, but she had so much fun tonight that she said she wanted to go tomorrow too. The three day a week practice schedule is for all of March. Games start after that and it should only be games with a little practice before the game.


I can tell you that we will not be signing up for TBall next year!
 
Just to clarify she is just playing tball. She is only 4! How can there be a less time committed team? Some of the kids on her team aren't even 4 until May. I just would have never thought they would practice this much. I think it's completely insane. I don't think any parent signing their kid up for tball would expect this. I think maybe she just got a crazy coach. I *think* they are really only supposed to have one practice a week that is assigned by the league. The other 2 practices are at different locations. The coach gave this speech about how they are in this to win and it's not just tball....

Uhhhhh....yeah, I would not even sign her up with this coach just because of his attitude. Come on---they are 3 and 4 years old for pete's sake!!!! Coaches like this can ruin kids' self-esteem and confidence quickly--I know from experience!:mad::( I would think twice before subjecting her to this.

She can still have just as much fun on a different league practicing one day a week with someone who is way more positive and team spirited.
 
I think I'd be running from a coach that is "in it to win" at the t-ball stage!!

Around here, gym takes priority for my oldest as she chose to join team. She also swims, but that is on alternating nights. My middle child goes to gym M/W and swims T/Th, and in the case of conflicts, she makes the choice. And the youngest is only 3, but has gyum once a week (w) and has been swimming too (t/TH), but opted to give soccer a try instead of swimming. Whatever. He's 3, and he's just having fun. Nothing is serious to him, and it shouldn't be!!

When my oldest was 5 and in kindergarten, she played soccer. She wanted to try softball too, so I signed her up. Soccer ended in April, softball started April - I figured there would be minimal conflict, right?

WRONG.

Soccer started and softball PRACTICE started at the same time. She ended up going to soccer at 5:15 for an hour, then I would run her across the sports complex to her 6:30pm softball practice. She did this on T/Th, and IMO the softball practice was insane - they would practice for a minimum of 90 minutes, and these were 4 & 5yos!! Don't know about you, but my 5yo was usually in BED by 8pm, not just coming off the practice field.

Anyway, as it was short term, we asked her if she wanted to give one up. She said no, and never once complained about the long evenings. She even wanted to sign up for softball again in the fall (I said no)!!

And - just for the record - both soccer & softball coaches were in it for the love of the game. They taught the girls the basics and made sure they all had fun, and it wasn't a "we're in it to win" attitude at all, which I as a parent really appreciated!!
 
That seems way too INTENSE for T-ball. Yikes.

Abby takes a drama class once a week and she is also in Girl Scouts. We are active in our homeschool group as well. Gymnastics usually gets priority and that is her choice. We leave our homeschool group park day earlier than we used to because she has practice at 4pm on Fridays. She doesn't mind unless she is totally wrapped up in play, but if I warn her about 30 minutes before we are leaving, it works out fine. She loves the gym and rarely has asked to miss.

She isn't in any other activities right now mainly because of money, but also because I think that 3 nights a week is plenty at her age for scheduled activity. We would probably add something during the day if money weren't an issue, but for now it is, so we don't. :)
 
Just to clarify she is just playing tball. She is only 4! How can there be a less time committed team? Some of the kids on her team aren't even 4 until May. I just would have never thought they would practice this much. I think it's completely insane. I don't think any parent signing their kid up for tball would expect this. I think maybe she just got a crazy coach. I *think* they are really only supposed to have one practice a week that is assigned by the league. The other 2 practices are at different locations. The coach gave this speech about how they are in this to win and it's not just tball. I was like "What is wrong with this man?". These kids are going to be picking flowers and chasing bugs. I was very turned off by this attitude.

I would ask to have her put on a different team. That's nuts! :eek: They are 4 years old, not high school players. How can you be in it to win it at that age. I think the coach needs to get a life!
 
In this case, I would not short gymnastics. I'd give the t-ball coach fewer practices. I think it is probably harder to get the strength gains in only 1 night at the gym, and I don't see why he needs 3 practices.

My daughter does gymnastics, dance and then summer swim team. This will be her second year with all three. She does other things but those are the big ones; also home school activities and classes Sept - May. Last May was SOOOO tiring. Our league starts practicing in May, really the last half of May last year but we can practice as early as the start of May legally. Dance is usually no big deal, it's a rec center program, but the end of May brings an extra evening rehearsal and a weeknight recital. So ... yeah May is a train rec. All the "school year" stuff has not stopped, swim team has been added as a bonus layer, and the dance recital AAAAAAAAHHHHH.

Then in June it becomes manageable again. And in July, it's basically a vacation.
 
I don't even think there is another league. She's just playing on the city league and that's all we have as far as I know. I don't know anything about Tball. Her cousin played last year and we always went to his games. They are close enough in age that they could be together this year so we signed up.

She had a blast last night and the coaches were actually really nice and fun. Then I took her tonight and she refused to participate. She just wanted to pick flowers and play with her other cousin so I let her. I told her she was welcome to quit if she wants, but under no circumstances am I driving her to practice so she can pick flowers. She can do that in the backyard.

I also overheard a few other parents letting the team mom know they wouldn't be at practice 3 times a week because their kids have other committments and like me they weren't expecting to practice so much. So I'm not alone in thinking it's too much.

My DD is at an age where she doesn't go to school and has another year before she will and I'm willing to let her try several things. She gets to be around other kids and make friends. I guess I just thought for a 4 year old an activity would be one day a week. When I tell people she has gym twice a week for 1.5 hours they look at me like I'm crazy. I guess they haven't met Tball parents yet!

DD is such a girly girl too and she was very upset about her "outfit" as she called it. She wore jeans to the first practice and we got baseball pants for tonight. She hates them and I think that's really the reason she wouldn't participate. She was crying because she said they make her look "stupid". When I asked her what was wrong with them she pointed out that the crotch was really long. She asked if she could wear a skirt!
 
When DD#1 was in kindy & first grade, before GYM got intense, she tried soccer and really wasn't into it. Our town league at the time was just basically clinic, very boring. By end of 1st grade, she started training gym 12 hrs/wk, there was only time left for swim lessons, girl scouts and religious ed. By the time #2 and 3 came around, we only had time for 1 sport each (in addition to swim lessons & rel. ed and school). #2 (little monkey's twin) chose t-ball one season, soccer the next. #3 (little monkey) followed her sister into the gym and never looked back. This year both girls wanted to "try" cheering. It was the first time that #1 wanted to really do something with her school friends. The schedule was God-awful ...in previous years they practiced after school and assured me it would not interfere with gymnastics. Lo and behold, the scheduling changed and I had to pull her from gym 2x a week out of the 15 hrs of practice (level 8). Of course little monkey's cheer squad was practicing on different nights so I was chauferring (sp?) twice as much as before. They are also doing All Star cheer at the gym, but this so far has not really conflicted with gymnastics although their cheer coach is putting together a schedule right smack dab in the midst of Little Monkey's level 5 season! So...what takes priority? In my mind, it's gymnastics...however, there were a couple of months where I was pulling my hair out so that the girls would miss as little gym time as possible.
 
I live in Fl and softball,baseball and soccer is year around here and I could not believe how much time they spend practicing I am so glad my dd has never asked to try these sports.I do believe in letting them try other things when they are young when they get older and in upper levels of gymnastics it takes up most of there time.My dd is 8 almost 9 L4 moving to L5 in summer she has been in Girl scouts this is her 3rd year and takes horseback riding lessons for a yr now she started in Oct in Horse show compt once a month they go thru april.There has been instances where something from all 3 of her activites happened on same day and I let her choose.Last Year she missed her Spring state meet because it fell on same weekand her troop goes camping (they only go once a yr)and she choose camping.
 
Wow, my son played select baseball on a usssa team and they only practiced twice a week and once when the season started! They did play 90 games one summer and then they did not have any practices. Now that he is playing on the highschool team, they practice about 3 days a week off season (weight lifting) and when season starts it might be every day but he is 16!!!! T-ball was never moer then once a week for any of my kiddos! WOW! She will be an awesome baseball player!
 
I think i would let her try it for a while and if you need to miss practices just tell them. Eventually she will let you know what she wants to do. When my daughter was 4 she tried soccor and tball she swam did dance and she was just starting gymnastics at 41/2. It really did not become a problem doing other activities until she turned 7 and joined the gymnastics team. Since then she has given up everything except she does dance 1x week. I never ran into problems with the other sports except summer swim team because they practiced in the morning the same time as gym. I did not find it to be a big deal if she missed a soccor game or t ball game but with being on the gymnastics team they are not allowed to miss pracitices during meet season and during the summer they have to go practice monday to friday or else they will not be allow to continue on the team. I would let your daughter explore other activites when she is young and when she gets older if she decides to stick with gymnastics it will be because she likes it the best that is what I did with my daughter.
 
Practice 2 days each week was usually standard for us in baseball. The coaches usually have the option to do more if they choose. i've never heard of doing more for Tball but like some others suggested, Just skip one night of Tball if you need to. The city leagues can't boot you off the team for missing Tball practice but if your on the gym team, they can be more picky.

Its hard in my opinion, to do gymnastics and other "things" depending on how far you want to go. If you are on the team, then you have a commitment to your "team".

I give DD the option to do whatever one activity she wants and so far, she would never leave gym for another sport so we don't have the issue (yet). She does do ballet one day each week but this is by request of her gym coach and it is not for recitals and such - we consider it "gym" too.

I do have 4 other kids and they each are allowed to have one activity. Some days I do not know how I manage it all but the quick answer to your question is we limit to one interest at a time (per child) and we have a Sundays off rule when we do nothing but be together as a family that day.
 

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