Multiple Kids and Sports How Do You Do It!

Make lots of friends! Seriously that is how I did it. You just have to get the kids there, you don't have to be there. Some days I would take my daughter, others my son. Everyone is in the same boat so they are always willing to help.

Carpool with other parents! That's really the only way you can do it. We've got 4 kids and 1 plays real hockey on 2 teams plus lacrosse, 2 take learn-to-play hockey classes plus play a mix of basketball, lacrosse, t-ball/baseball and soccer, and one does Karate/kickboxing/competitive fighting.

For us, the real killer is hockey. We specifically joined a team because another kid we know is on the team so we can split rides to practices and games, which are 20-60 minutes away from our house.

Your six-year-old is old enough to either go with another parent who will stay or be dropped off if another parent can watch her. We do this frequently with our 7-year-old for birthday parties and sports. As long as someone agrees to keep and eye on him and by his stand-in parent, I'm comfortable doing a drop off. Obviously I reciprocate for other parents to keep things balanced.

Don't get freaked out by this yet - most families have this conflict and we all manage to get our kids where they need to be most of the time.

Very carefully! :)

Thankfully we live in a neighborhood with lots of kids so we take turns taking kids to and from practices. This has always seemed to work out for us.

Find another sport family and see if you can work something out with them incase you have any conflicts.

You carpool with other parents.
Sometimes you miss one kid's game or practice, obviously you can't physically be in two places at once, and your kids will adjust.
I don't think six is too young to be left at practice, as long as there is more than one adult supervising.
I have three and my husband wasn't always around either. Don't worry, you'll figure it out :)

see if there is a mom that lives by that your oldest is friends with and if they live close by maybe do a carpool with them or have a grandparent or aunt help with them on days they overlap

My 7 year old would play everything and everything if I'd let her... her alone is like multiple kids with all the stuff she has going on!

My almost 6 year old is a princess... if it involves running, getting dirty or sweaty, forget it. Needless to say, I'm kind of lucky she's like that, BUT... I want her to get involved with SOMETHING. I told her she has until next year to pick ONE THING.

My son is still a toddler, but has taken up the sport of extreme mommy-stressing, and he's a PRO.

It's hard! It's really not easy juggling MOM TIME, life, work, kids, etc... you just kind of adjust until you find that happy medium... even if that means cutting some other things out. Next year might be a bit easier; I dropped my 7 year old off at soccer practice all this past spring season, and had my husband pick her up. HUGE difference :)

Hello,
My daughter & son are just shy of 2 yrs. apart, my daughter being the oldest. When mine were in sports & had games at 2 different locations, I already knew some of the parents very well, well enough to trust them with my kids. Therefore, I would take the child who had to be at their game 1st and have one of my friends to please watch them while I ran the other to their game. Then I would have someone watch my child while I ran back to the 1st ones game. By the time the 1st game was over, we would run over to the other childs game to watch the end of it. That way I did get to watch at least half of each childs game.

If the games were at the same time, I would take my daughter over to a team mates house, then take my son to his game. They always had to be there early to warm up. Then I would do as before, go watch a little of my daughters game, then return to my sons game. When it was over, I would either meet up with the parents of my daughters friend to retrieve her.

You will put some mileage on the car, but it is WELL WORTH IT. The kids are so thrilled that you watched them play.

My kids are now 22 & 20 yrs of age.

I also need to mention, my parents came to practically every game, even though they lived over an hour away. However, they were not there for the pre game warm up. So, they were able to help out when they came to the games.

I would suggest you get to know some of the parents of the kids that your kids are close to & get to know the coach really well also. That way you can also do the same for those parents when you don't have to run to 2 different locations.

Good luck & enjoy because they grow up quickly. If I was given the chance to do it all again, I would in a heart beat.

Happy 4th
C.

You learn to eat in the car, lol.

My 9 yo son plays select soccer, so we have to travel (locally) for his games. 7 yo daughter also plays some type of sport, she's still deciding what her 'thing' will be. Divide & conquer! I saw none of dd's soccer games last season, and DH saw none of ds's games. I do all practices because of DH's work schedule; if they are on the same night it's drop and run; drop one kid, drop the other kid, pick up first kid, pick up second kid.

When they were 4 & 6 if there was a conflict the 6 yo's sport would have taken precedence. We have missed a couple of my daughter's games because DH was out of town for work and I couldn't be in two places at once - but ds is very serious about soccer and dd was just having fun with it, so when there is one parent and two kids the larger commitment wins.
At 4 they are really just exploring sports, so having him wait a year to play football isn't really a big deal. Find a sport for him that works for your current schedule, he'll just be excited to be playing something.

Make friends with other moms who are in the same boat/team and carpool! I have 4 kids, and it's the only way I can possibly stay sane while letting them do their thing :) Good luck!

network network network!
:) khairete
S.