Most people know that I have twin boys. They will be 13 this weekend and both have very different tastes in the sports they like and activities they participate in. Thus my problem.
I am the only person that can and will run them to their practices, meetings, games and so forth. So what does a parent do in such a situation where both kids want to participate in different activities but it would most oftentimes require the one parent being in two places at the exact same time?
My husband is normally able to help, but it's in the busy season for his job and it requires he be there long hours. This is precisely the reason he had to bail on the boys last year as baseball coach, because the long hours would not permit him to continue being a coach. So I've accepted that he is totally unavailable during this time of year.
I've thought of dividing up the year into the four seasons. Telling each son that he could have two seasons, because I've already told them they can pick two sports a year and that's it! One can have spring and fall while the other gets summer and winter. Maybe?
Have you seen the prices of kids participating in sports lately? It's unreal!
Anyway, I'd love to have some input from other parents or even someone who isn't that might give me some creative ideas in how best to handle this situation.
2 comments:
It’s probably not a good idea to limit the boys to only participating in certain times of the year? The minute you do that one of them will pick a season that is off limits to them. Do you really want to make any time of the year off limits in the first place? I understand limited funds but let them pick which activities they are interested in and see if you either take one early or pick one up a few minutes late. There will be times when you may have to sit in your vehicle for a bit waiting on one of them in which case you should take up So Duko! I also like Desperately Seeking Sanity’s idea of carpooling with another parent in similar circumstances.
It's fun when the kids start to get lives of their own, ain't it?
Seriously, carpooling is the way to go... and from my experience there's no shortage of parents attached to your sons teams who would love to take one of your boys fortnightly in return for having every second weekend off (assuming they only have one kid to ferry round themselves). Call the coach when the boys are ready to sign up and ask if any other parents are looking to carpool.. if he doesn't know, offer to act as a contact point if he will raise it with the parents - you get first dibs on the best options that way.
Of course, if you find parents to carpool with and manage to alternate the system so you can drive one of your boys one week and the other the next week... well, you never do get that weekend off.
Again though, if carpooling doesn't fit and you do end up driving both sons, at 13 the boys are old enough to handle a ten minute wait if the game times happen to coincide too closely.
Good luck with the money side though.. I still haven't found a way to grow that stuff.
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