Conflicts

warning: ramblings of a very tired soccer mom

With all of the sports my boys play, there are bound to be conflicts with schedules. But lately, Scott and I have been struggling more than ever with which game/practice holds the most priority. I'd love to say that spring is baseball, summer is swim team, fall is soccer, and winter is basketball, but in reality, all of the sports run together and everything overlaps forcing us to choose who goes where and what gets skipped. For example: one night, Brady had baseball practice, soccer camp, Carter had 3v3 soccer practice, Bennett had a baseball game and they all had a rescheduled swim meet. We chose the swim meet because they only have five a summer and we could all go and not be running in three different directions. But to be honest, it was a decision we went back and forth with for days. Does swim team trump soccer camp when there are only five sessions of that too? Should Bennett miss a league game? And with only 5 kids on Carter's 3v3 team, it's hard to practice when not everyone shows up. On the other hand, all three boys are in relays on the swim team and missing a meet could mean being bumped from races at the championship meet. We often talk about making the kids choose only one sport to play, but they love playing everything and it's hard to tell a 6 year old that even though he's great at soccer and baseball, he can only play one. Why not put them on rec teams?? Well, because then they're not playing at a competitive level and they'll be behind when they're older. When you have 50+ kids trying out for highschool baseball and only 15 make it...it's clear that only the kids who have played at the highest level since they were SEVEN are going to be the ones wearing those school jerseys! Making this all the more stressful is that Scott and I are the worst decision makers. Three years ago when Cate was born, I gave up on trying to make every practice and game...it's seriously just not possible. We have a friend whose son plays select hockey and soccer...when asked how he does it, his answer is, "I pay $1000 for each and miss half of everything". And he's right..it's just not possible to get them to two places at once. This drives Scott insane. He hates making a commitment and then not showing up 100% of the time, but he is going to have to accept that with four kids, it's just the way it is. Another example...last night Carter had 3v3 soccer practice, select soccer practice, Brady had baseball practice and we were celebrating Carter's birthday(the only night in the next two weeks that we could do so). Obviously, we skipped everything else and had everyone over for Carter, but it bothered Scott all night and tonight at Brady's baseball practice, someone else was practicing in his position (as if!). Which then brings up the argument that why should Brady get to play infield all game every game if he is not at every practice when everyone else is??? No way to win in this game and it stinks. And you can imagine what all of these schedules do to our "family time" ......and sit down dinners??What are those?! Ugh, I'm so tired :/ Thankfully, we all have the summer off work/school and at least have between the hours of 12 and 5 to chill. Damn, saying that out loud makes me sound even more ridiculous. I told Scott we're taking a "radical sabbatical" from all sports next year but the kids went nuts as soon as the words were out of my mouth. So, for now, we'll continue down this path of overbooked kids, no downtime at home, and zero dollars to spare :) Poor baby Cate won't ever get to play sports...I'm gonna be just too damn tired!