Do your children have after school activities? If your children are old enough, do you stay with them and watch practice or do you run errands while they are with their coaches? If it is my teen, I drop him off and pick him back up once practice is over. Now that he is a sophomore and many of his teammates are now of driving age, it would be embarrassing for him if his mother sat in the stands and watched his practices. For my third grade son, I stay and watch the practice if it is an event that he isn’t 100% interested in so that I can reassure him if needed. If it is his basketball practices, which he loves, I either watch the practice or walk the school hallways since the location isn’t close enough for me to make it to the grocery and back before practice ends.
The third grader used to take gymnastics which was located just down the road from the grocery. This was the perfect location. I could drop him off, run to the grocery and make it back in time to watch him finish up his practice. I didn’t go to the grocery every time he went to practice but it made it convenient when I needed to pick up food and hadn’t made it to the store yet for the day.
After school activities are great for kids, but can be too overwhelming if you enroll them in too many of them. Homework must come first, so plan ahead to only sign up for activities that can be easily enjoyed without adding stress to your child’s schedule.