I can tell you firsthand that keeping up with weekday sports practice schedules is not easy. Between the commute when I go to and from the office, then to my son’s school, and then to the next field for practice, we should probably just live in the car. Welcome to the chaotic challenge of keeping up with our kids’ busy weekday sports schedule.
In communicating with other moms about keeping up with sports schedules I realized that I’m not alone. And I don’t have to do it all. It gets hectic but we can probably relieve some stress from ourselves with some coordination of who can drive our athletes to and from practice, pre-plan some of the weekday dinners, and add maybe 30 minutes of wellness activity while at practice.
TIP #1: ASK FOR HELP AND NORMALIZE IT IN YOUR SYSTEM
Moms, let’s release some of the guilt! I know we want to do it all sometimes but we need to normalize asking for help.
One very helpful task is delegating who will do the pick-up for practice. Ask for help from your partner or maybe a grandparent. Maybe even from a trusted close member of your family. Sure we want to be there but by asking for help we are relieving some of the stress on ourselves. Sometimes me and my husband work out a schedule so that I’m able to rely on him to pick up our son from school and drive him to the next practice. This gives me time to go home to cook our pre-planned dinner. It does not always go as planned and we do have to adjust to the interceptions (football mom vocabulary).
TIP #2: TRY MEAL PLANNING FOR PRACTICE ON THE WEEKNIGHTS
The first thing out of my teenage boy’s mouth after practice is “Mom, what’s for dinner?” As any growing teen boy, add also a student-athlete, trust me when I say that he can eat.
If the team’s practice schedule is available, use it to plan ahead. I carve out time on Sundays to plan the weeknight dinners. I plan for the easier meals to be on practice nights in case I’m not able to find someone to drive my son to football practice. For example, breakfast for dinner or burger bowls with sweet potato fries. (Sign up for Miami Mom Collective’s newsletter for easy weekday recipes). Another non-pro tip is that since I like to cook on Sundays, I try to use the leftovers (if any) for the following night’s meal.
Be gentle with yourself and be open to the honest fact that it doesn’t always go as scheduled. We do visit the drive-thru sometimes and other times it is just a plain bowl of cereal.
TIP #3: PLAN YOUR WORKOUT DURING YOUR KID’S WEEKDAY SPORTS PRACTICE
I always feel better after a good workout. It keeps my mind healthy and I release the stress that I ingest from commuting from one side of town to the next to get my son to his football practice. Timing the days I know that I will be driving my son to practice, I pack a workout outfit and sneakers to change into either at the office or at the park’s restroom. Then, while my son practices on the field, I walk/jog for 30 minutes around the park. After my walk/jog, I can instantly feel the release.
Balancing and juggling all of our hats as a mom is difficult. I bring you this read so that you note that we are in it together. With a little preplanning and a little less pressure on ourselves, we are going to make it during our children’s sports season.
