I feel stuck with a busy schedule

[LivingForTheWinter]

I feel like it's all way too much but at the same time the kids like it and I don't know what I'd drop if I did? Does our schedule look like other people's? I work two days a week so they have to do after school club. Two kids aged only just 8 and only just 6

Monday - after school club til 5
Tuesday - after school club til 4.30
Wednesday - 6 year old has beavers, 8 year old has karate
Thursday - 6 year old has karate, 8 year old has cubs
Friday - swimming lessons, home by 5

They both have an activity saturday morning.
That's 4 'things' each.

Doesn't sound outlandish, whilst it is swimming lessons, karate, and Scouts.

Are they doing other things on the Saturday mornings ?

I have this where I commute two days while the kids go to afterschool club then the rest of the week we are rushing round doing clubs because they’ve not done any the days I am working. I think its work and switching between that and parenting as well as the number of clubs that makes it feel quite intense. We do more on the weekend and keep Thursday evening free for family time and that works well as it’s something different from the rushing around.

Yes Saturday mornings are footie and gymnastics
The only one I insist they do is swimming til they finish stage 7. The 8 year old is nearly there, I'd say the six year old probably has a year to go.

The whole schedule makes me anxious

Thats exactly my problem. Id love one night off but that would be swimming cubs or beavers...

If it works for you all then it’s fine. My child would collapse with exhaustion and we would never commit to so many things, so it’s not for us. I think kids do too much these days.

It's not too excessive but you could do with one night a week free. We have;
Monday - free, usually playdates
Tuesday - 8 year old has ice skating, 4 year old usually skates but I'm not paying for an expensive coach for him to learn the basics and I'm too pregnant to get my fat feet in my skates so we just watch for now.
Wednesday - 8 year old has brownies
Thursday - swimming lessons for both
Friday - after school football until 4:15 for both then 8 year old has gymnastics 5:20-6:20
Saturday - free
Sunday - 4 year old has rugby 9-10, 8 year old has ice skating 1-2

They can both do whatever they want in terms of activities but I insist on one weeknight and one weekend day free. They'd do more if I'd let them. DD (8) is desperate to do tennis but I've said we're one in one out on the activities front so brownies would probably have to go to make it happen.

It's not working for me but it seems to be for them so they both have ASD and sometimes it's hard to tell

Could you look into intensive swimming courses in the holidays to get them to stage 7 so you could recoup the regular weeknight?

Ours are similarly busy although with no after school club thankfully but we have activities instead. I don't think it's too many activities for each child, they are useful skills to have and the juggle comes because there are 2 of them. Do you have a partner who can drop off to activities?
I'm fortunate that DH is around to help so we often take one child each (means I can get some down time whilst one child is in the activity). For us we just accept it as a busy term time, and we want them to have the benefits of different sports and social groups etc. I figure it's good to try out as many activities while they're younger and willing, because older kids often just want to stay home and have more homework, be on devices etc.

If you want time for yourself, you would have to prioritize "me time". You could even take out small intervals for your self. Maybe 10 minutes walk in the park, a short nap of 30-45 minutes, a quick coffee run, or maybe little shopping spree. This looks little but contributes a lot to your own well being so try it, whatever time you can spare just do it.

Thanks. It's not so much that as I only work part time, it's just the constant logistics of who has to be where, for when, with what.

That's good idea, thanks

DH is great but a lawyer. Sometimes he's available, sometimes he's not so there's no predictability about it.

It doesn't look excessive at all to me.
Monday and Tuesday you are all home together in the evenings so can have a relaxed dinner, play board games etc.
Which parts of it are you struggling with?

That does sound like a lot, especially with two young children and both of you working. If they genuinely enjoy everything, you don’t necessarily need to drop anything, but it’s also okay to decide that family downtime matters too. Even one completely free weekday could make the week feel much less hectic.

I don't think that's too bad - we have things every night except Friday when the DC just argue while I try to finish work.

I do sometimes find it stressful but I think that's just a reaction to the pressure of trying to get everyone to the right places at the right time with the right stuff.

It sounds about average to me.

DD has:
Tuesday- Musical theatre then Rainbows
Wednesday - Swimming
Thursday- Singing lessons
Saturday- Youth theatre

Then she has guitar lessons at school.

We're dropping singing because she wants to do gymnastics.

I work full time and have 3 kids that all do stuff! Swap?

Could stop karate and pick it up once swimming lessons are done with?

Sounds pretty normal. I think the age gap doesn’t help as they aren’t in the same activity but that might change as they get older?

we also do crash courses in swimming in school holidays rather than weekly lessons.

It seems a lot to me. I agree kids need some time to just chill or have ad hoc plans like appointments/ play dates/ rest.

We only have two afternoons a week with classes scheduled. Nothing on weekends, no after school club. It’s still busy

Yes, to me that would be too much. At 13, my dd has things 4 days a week, but at 6-8, it was one day a week only. Eldest did a riding lesson. Youngest did Beavers/Cubs 6-8 and now does Tae Kwon Do once a week. No after school club (we don’t have one), Dh and I managed school run between us.

I don’t schedule anything permanent on weekends. Weekends are for downtime, puttering about the house, seeing friends or family, doing family things. Occasionally, eldest has a sports competition or an extra training but that is a few times a year.

It looks fairly normal to me - and also similar to my 7yo friends
Just to warn you that if anything it ramps up if they choose to do any of their activities competitively. Ours started like this but is now worse with early starts both weekend days and juggling more than one activity in an evening plus also competitions and extra training sessions.
it’s not ideal but I would much prefer my teen particularly to be kept busy and her team is also her main social life

I think it's fine if they enjoy it. They're all good activities. Two out of five nights you pick them up from school (after-school club) and go straight home, 3/4 of the weekend is free. You're not rushing about everyday.