I am definitely supportive of sports, especially for our daughter... and also supportive of activities (music lessons, ballet, etc.). However, I definitely don't want to spend the next 18 years of my life as a chauffeur.
Not sure how to reconcile those two...
Did your parents spend a lot of time driving you around? Are you going to spend your LO's childhood driving them around to activities and sports?
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I don't know how we'll do this. We both work so far from home, it will be a struggle. I think we'll have to limit activities because of our distance from home but still allow her to have one activity a season and somehow work it out between our two schedules.
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
When I was young, both parents worked so often my brother and I had or walk to take the bus...Back then it wasn't a big deal. My brother was 7 and I was 4 the first time we had to go to swimming lessons alone. Now? It's not as safe! I don't think I would mind driving them around at all!
honeydew / 7917 posts
My parents didn't enroll me in activities as a kid, and I wish they had. I don't mind being a chauffeur as long as my LO enjoys experiencing different activities and sports.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
I didn't have a lot of activities because my parents worked 12 hour days. DH did a lot of activities and he loved it.
We're going to stick the LO(s) in everything and then let them choose what they want to stick with for the long run 
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I don't mind driving her locally but I do have a problem with things like weekend soccer games where you have to drive to another state, hours away. DH says that we will be doing this and I say "No way!".
The LO is starting Mandarin classes in the fall so that will be our first chauffeur-like activity.
pomegranate / 3008 posts
No. I intend to do what my parents did. We were allowed to pick one, maybe two activities and that was it per year so there wasn't a lot of running here, running there.
cherry / 206 posts
Ugh, just thinking of how much driving around my mom did for me makes me feel sick. We lived in a very rural area so everything was very spread out. When I was younger, she would pick me up from school, drive 30 minutes to one town for piano lessons, drive 30 minutes to another town and sit through 3 dance classes, then drive 30 minutes home and it was time for bed. Once I was in high school she would pick me up from school, drive me to dance class, drive me back to school for cheerleading practice or a football/basketball game, and if we had an away game she would have to be back at school around 1am to pick me up.
I know she was happy when I got my license!
DH and I live in a bigger city than I grew up in, so any activities my future LO does should be a shorter distance from each other. I will definitely limit the number of activities he or she does though...I remember feeling burnt out as a child.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
My mother was constantly driving me around to activities. But she wanted us to be involved in things so I don't think it bothered her. Husband and I will definitely be willing to drive our kids around to all the activities they want to take part in. My big thing on activities will actually be telling the child that choosing to take part in an activity is a commitment, and you will see it through to the end. No skipping practice because you don't feel like going, or quitting mid season.
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
I think the answer to this is probably yes....though I will encourage carpooling as much as possible! DH and I are big proponents of our kids playing sports, music, whatever, so until they are old enough to drive, it will inevitably result in some chauffeuring!
apricot / 498 posts
I did a lot of activities as a kid but they were all in a place like the YMCA so we only had to go to one building for me and my brother. It made it easier on my Mom that she worked there. You cold look into that.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
YES!
I'm really really looking forward to this. Really debating what family car we will have in the future (and needing a garage) so that being a soccer mom will be as streamlined as possible. And I want one of those big calendars on the wall with dry-erase board.
My parents both worked full time when I was growing up so I'd have to ask people for rides everywhere or walk home. I lived more than 3 miles from school and the only way home was by walking down the main road of the town... 2 lane highway! I was painfully shy too so I would never ask for rides. Plus we lived super far away from most people. One of the only SAHMs whose kids were in my grade and lived in my neighborhood HATED me, and I learned in high school that it was because she felt like she always shuttled me around and my parents never offered to drive her kids around. (Because they didn't get home til dinnertime!) That totally traumatized me for life and I'm determined never to let my kids go through that kind of humiliation!!
persimmon / 1341 posts
My parents drove us around to a lot of different activities, picking up/dropping off friends, doing weekend activities, etc. This is definitely something I see us doing with our kids within reason. I don't think we'll drive 2 hours to basketball practice for one kid or anything crazy like that and we'll try to keep a nice balance. I don't want one kid to always be in the car going to another kids' activities and it's important to also have down time at home.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
Yes, I'm sure I will be driving our kids around to whatever sport, activity, ect. they want to try. I'm all for kids exploring to find something they love to do. Some of my favorite memories are gymnastics and summer softball league. My parents did it for all 3 of us, now it is my turn!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Probably will, and I semi-look forward to it since it's another way to watch them develop and grow!
pomelo / 5178 posts
I did a lot of stuff growing up, but I was expected to manage my own schedule and get myself where I needed to be on time. My mom rarely drove me around, and since I didn't get my license until I was almost 18, I spent a lot of time walking. Luckily, we lived in a small town, so nothing was farther than a couple miles' walk.
grapefruit / 4649 posts
I expect that we will cap it to two activities per lo per season (basically only 2 things at once.) Thankfully we have a ton of great activities either within walking distance or less then 10 minutes by car. There is a foreign language program on the other side of town that I would love to put them in but the driving would be crazy. Likewise, there is an IB program for high school on the other side of town and if they are interested and are accepted I am fairly certain that would be a priority for us.
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