Surviving sport and school as a single mom
by Laura-kim from Harrassed Mom
When my kids were in pre-school – life was pretty simple! They did their extra activities during school hours.There were no weekend activities except for the occasional party.
Then we hit Grade one and all that changed!
Most of my son’s activities are done during after care. But the weekend sports have now started. And he is adamant he wants to do Bulletjies rugby now too which is on a Monday at 16h30 – which falls outside of aftercare and is at a different venue.
We have spent four hours at chess and have a 4 hour stint at soccer coming up.
Now the challenge lies in the fact that I am one parent and have two children.
I had no idea what to expect at the chess so took Kiara along but it was unfair to expect her to sit there for that long. But what do you do? I can’t leave Cameron there – he is still too small and it was the first one so we didn’t really know how it all worked! Same thing with the soccer. I can’t just leave him there but have no one to watch Kiara. So she has to come with.
Fortunately, this year she is still in pre-school so I am not juggling 2 kids schedules but next year is going to be fun when they are both doing different activities. I have support in my friends and family but I can’t be palming kids off every weekend – it’s not fair on anyone!
So what do I do? Hope that they manage to clone people in the next 6 months? It’s a constant juggling act. Trying to get it all done and keep everyone happy and get everyone where they are supposed to be on time. And some days it is not easy doing it all on my own.
Then there are the school activities that never coincide. This Friday is dress up for Cameron, next Thursday is baking day for Kiara. Cameron needs money on Wednesday for cake and candy. Kiara needs tuck money on Friday. Parents evening for Cameron at 16h15 on Tues and 17h00 for Kiara on Wednesday.
It never ends. Someone asked me the other day how organised am I. I smiled and thought “dude you have no idea just how organised I am”.
Hi Laura-Kim,
Man Alive i take my hat off to you being a single mom. i have a husband and life is insane. My husband is never home when i need him anyway. I find though that the best way to deal with one parent and 2 kids, my friends and i get together 1 day a month, at a child friendly venue, and match schedules, and more often than not, my poor 4yr old does not have to spend an entire day watching 100′s of boys playing soccer, we work it out so that while we are at one event there is usually one mom that is available to help out with 2 other kids for a play date. This is awesome, because, it gives you a break and it gives the child at the event your undivided attention for at least a few hours. It also means that you do not have a child who is cranky after 10 minutes driving you nuts. Give it a try. i am sure your friends also have the same problem, and they would be more than willing to be almost like a play date group and that it is not you just palming your kids off on someone else, it works both ways so you are also helping them out. In a world of working mothers, we all know how hard it is and have to be there for each other.