being late

x-no-archive:yes (Robyn Kozierok) wrote:

In article ,
chiam margalit wrote:

I'll ask this question again, since I didn't get an answer last time.
If you weren't responsible for the drop off and pickup of your kids,
if your transportation wasn't part of the formula, would you still
choose to bunch all the activities together or would you prefer to
spread them out so they're only doing one thing at a time?

I did answer on the other subthread, but I'll answer again because
I may not have answered the question you were trying to ask.

For starters, I think you, Karen G and I are all talking about
different kinds of activities, and I think the differences impact the
answers.

Karen G has preschool-age kids (and a baby) and she is talking about
activities during the "school" day.

My kids' activities (tae kwon do, soccer, music lessons) tend to be things
that are separate from school and at least around here tend to run later
in the afternoon or into the evening.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from your reference to the "late bus" on
the other subthread where you asked this, I *think* you're talking about
activities that are directly after school and located at the school, with
transportation home being available afterwards.

So, to answer the question I think you're trying to ask, if my kids were
participating in after-school activities at school that lasted two hours
or less and they had transportation home then I don't think I'd care one way
or the other whether they had their activities on the same days or not.
I'd be inclined, I think, to let them choose whichever days' activities
interested them the most (assuming I had no other objections to the
particular activities). Unless I expected to be needed/invited to watch
or participate in both activities on a regular enough basis to expect
conflicts, I can't think why I'd restrict them from doing things on the
same days, but I wouldn't prefer it as strongly as I do now either.

I agree with Robyn and I've been thinking additionally about the
transportation issue.

First of all, except for pre-school and/or family activities, I didn't
have activities for my children before they were school age.
Preschool was always tremendous hassle to get to as there was no
possibility of walking to any of them. (Was involved with 5 different
ones in 4 different places.)

Before my dd#1 was in 2nd grade, my kids walked to school and home.
Because of moving, this included 4 different schools that dd#1 walked
to and could have stayed for after school activities and then walk
home.

After that, they were always bused to school. I've never lived where
I've had transportation home provided after activities. That's one of
the reasons that I was really happy when dd#1 got her driver's license
which coincided to a certain extent with the time I became a WOHM
teaching school.

grandma Rosalie

In ,
chiam margalit wrote:

(Hillary Israeli) wrote in message ...

* Me too! This upcoming semester, I have my daughter doing Gymboree one
* morning during my son's preschool, and swimming class another morning
* during his preschool. It would be hard to avoid having her do stuff the
* same day though, given he has preschool five days a week .
*
*I'll ask this question again, since I didn't get an answer last time.
*If you weren't responsible for the drop off and pickup of your kids,
*if your transportation wasn't part of the formula, would you still
*choose to bunch all the activities together or would you prefer to
*spread them out so they're only doing one thing at a time?

I'm not sure I really understand.

Transportation isn't the real issue here IMO. When my son is at school, I
have alone time with my daughter. I can take her to a class. If my son is
not at school when I schedule her for a class, someone has to take care of
him while I go somewhere with my daughter, and also he misses me and
wishes I were with him, and also he wonders why he can't go to the class
too. So I prefer to do things for her while he's otherwise occupied. I
believe I would feel the same way even if I had a chauffeur taking my son
to and from school, if that is what you are asking.

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message ...
In article ,
chiam margalit wrote:

I'll ask this question again, since I didn't get an answer last time.
If you weren't responsible for the drop off and pickup of your kids,
if your transportation wasn't part of the formula, would you still
choose to bunch all the activities together or would you prefer to
spread them out so they're only doing one thing at a time?

I did answer on the other subthread, but I'll answer again because
I may not have answered the question you were trying to ask.

For starters, I think you, Karen G and I are all talking about
different kinds of activities, and I think the differences impact the
answers.

Karen G has preschool-age kids (and a baby) and she is talking about
activities during the "school" day.

My kids' activities (tae kwon do, soccer, music lessons) tend to be things
that are separate from school and at least around here tend to run later
in the afternoon or into the evening.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from your reference to the "late bus" on
the other subthread where you asked this, I *think* you're talking about
activities that are directly after school and located at the school, with
transportation home being available afterwards.

So, to answer the question I think you're trying to ask, if my kids were
participating in after-school activities at school that lasted two hours
or less and they had transportation home then I don't think I'd care one way
or the other whether they had their activities on the same days or not.
I'd be inclined, I think, to let them choose whichever days' activities
interested them the most (assuming I had no other objections to the
particular activities). Unless I expected to be needed/invited to watch
or participate in both activities on a regular enough basis to expect
conflicts, I can't think why I'd restrict them from doing things on the
same days, but I wouldn't prefer it as strongly as I do now either.

Yeah, this is what I was asking. My kids don't have a lot of
activities (sports, hebrew, music) and the music and sports are both
done on campus after school, the Hebrew at home. Because I don't want
either child on the late bus alone in the winter, when it gets dark, I
encourage them to make sure their activities are at the same time.
Fortunately, this year it worked out well for us.

I want them to have activities on the same days so that I know where
they both are and don't have to start sorting through my rather
overfilled brain to figure out who is where when. Way too much for me
to figure out! Plus, they like to be together, but not at the same
activities.

And as for my kids missing each other, they do, desperately. If one is
home sick whilst the other is at school, it's a constant "what time is
sibling going to be home" festival. Both of my kids have Jewish Big
Brother Big Sister volunteers they go out with on Sundays, and if
they're not out at the same time (different destinations) they start
in on me..."I wonder what X is doing?" They like to be *at* the same
activities, but not necessarily with each other. It's why certain day
camps work well for my kids, while other camps are complete washouts.
The camps that have scheduled field trips to amusement parks and water
parks and other activities are *perfect* for my kids, who like to see
what the other are doing, but are not put together in 'bunks'. The
camps that put all the kids together for activites are destined to
fail because they don't get along well WITH each other in a group
setting, but do care enough about each other to want to ensure fun and
safety, and of course, to compare notes afterwards! Twins are a
complicated relationship! I'd have to say my kids are *extremely*
close friends and really love each other, but when they get annoyed,
watch out! :-)

Marjorie

In article ,
chiam margalit wrote:

Yeah, this is what I was asking. My kids don't have a lot of
activities (sports, hebrew, music) and the music and sports are both
done on campus after school, the Hebrew at home. Because I don't want
either child on the late bus alone in the winter, when it gets dark, I
encourage them to make sure their activities are at the same time.
Fortunately, this year it worked out well for us.

I want them to have activities on the same days so that I know where
they both are and don't have to start sorting through my rather
overfilled brain to figure out who is where when. Way too much for me
to figure out! Plus, they like to be together, but not at the same
activities.

Ok, now I'm really confused. I thought you were saying that you *didn't*
like to let your kids have activities on the same days?

As to keeping track of who is (and in my case needs to get) where when,
the PDA is my friend. Don't know how I ever lived without one.
Especially when Matthew was in Kindergarten with the stupidest schedule
ever: full days Monday through Wednesday, half days Thursday and
Friday. Luckily the bus driver was not allowed to leave him wihout
confirming that someone was home to receive him. I never actually
forgot to be home on time, but I lived in fear of forgetting all year
(They every used Thursday and Friday afternoon for the whole school
year to train the K teachers how to teach full-day Kindergarten. I am
not making this up. Never mind that Matthew's teacher had 30+ years of
teaching experience which included many years of full-day kindergarten
and other early grades. She was not impressed by the training. I
cannot imagine that even for newer teachers, the difference between
teaching half-day K and full-day K required some 70 afternoons to
teach!)

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

x-no-archive:yes
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote:

In article ,
chiam margalit wrote:

Yeah, this is what I was asking. My kids don't have a lot of
activities (sports, hebrew, music) and the music and sports are both
done on campus after school, the Hebrew at home. Because I don't want
either child on the late bus alone in the winter, when it gets dark, I
encourage them to make sure their activities are at the same time.
Fortunately, this year it worked out well for us.

I want them to have activities on the same days so that I know where
they both are and don't have to start sorting through my rather
overfilled brain to figure out who is where when. Way too much for me
to figure out! Plus, they like to be together, but not at the same
activities.

Ok, now I'm really confused. I thought you were saying that you *didn't*
like to let your kids have activities on the same days?

I think with her this is more of a twin thing. It sounds as if she
does more or less what I did with my two older ones - they were in
different sections of the same activity, or they were in the same
activity at the same time, but it was an individual activity and not a
team thing.

As to keeping track of who is (and in my case needs to get) where when,
the PDA is my friend. Don't know how I ever lived without one.

I didn't have that problem, but I didn't have anyone playing team
sports like soccer, and also, my pre kindergarten children didn't have
any activities - I never even did playdates.

DD#2 has a son who's in all kinds of sports - sometimes 3 at once-
(like baseball, soccer, basketball and tennis- I think that kid plays
baseball year round), and she has to work an irregular schedule on top
of that. She just marks stuff on the calendar on the frig. If she's
not there, the nanny takes them and picks them up.

Especially when Matthew was in Kindergarten with the stupidest schedule
ever: full days Monday through Wednesday, half days Thursday and
Friday. Luckily the bus driver was not allowed to leave him wihout
confirming that someone was home to receive him. I never actually
forgot to be home on time, but I lived in fear of forgetting all year
(They every used Thursday and Friday afternoon for the whole school
year to train the K teachers how to teach full-day Kindergarten. I am

Sometimes - even often - those inservice things are a pain in the neck
to all concerned.

not making this up. Never mind that Matthew's teacher had 30+ years of
teaching experience which included many years of full-day kindergarten
and other early grades. She was not impressed by the training. I
cannot imagine that even for newer teachers, the difference between
teaching half-day K and full-day K required some 70 afternoons to
teach!)

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)


grandma Rosalie

In article ,
Rosalie B. wrote:

(They every used Thursday and Friday afternoon for the whole school
year to train the K teachers how to teach full-day Kindergarten. I am

Sometimes - even often - those inservice things are a pain in the neck
to all concerned.

I got the distinct impression that this was one of those times.
I think they're *still* doing this 2 years later too! There's got to
be some better way to use all those resources! sigh...

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message ...
In article ,
chiam margalit wrote:

Yeah, this is what I was asking. My kids don't have a lot of
activities (sports, hebrew, music) and the music and sports are both
done on campus after school, the Hebrew at home. Because I don't want
either child on the late bus alone in the winter, when it gets dark, I
encourage them to make sure their activities are at the same time.
Fortunately, this year it worked out well for us.

I want them to have activities on the same days so that I know where
they both are and don't have to start sorting through my rather
overfilled brain to figure out who is where when. Way too much for me
to figure out! Plus, they like to be together, but not at the same
activities.

Ok, now I'm really confused. I thought you were saying that you *didn't*
like to let your kids have activities on the same days?


I never did, but *this year* with both kids in the same school for
the first time in several years, they'll both be doing activities
after school. They're not the same things (he's taking lacrosse, she's
taking track) but the transportation issue is moot because they can
take the late bus home. One day that he has something she doesn't
have, she's doing 'homework helper'. And hump day is Hebrew, which
they both do with the same poor beleagured tutor.

Marjorie

As to keeping track of who is (and in my case needs to get) where when,
the PDA is my friend. Don't know how I ever lived without one.
Especially when Matthew was in Kindergarten with the stupidest schedule
ever: full days Monday through Wednesday, half days Thursday and
Friday. Luckily the bus driver was not allowed to leave him wihout
confirming that someone was home to receive him. I never actually
forgot to be home on time, but I lived in fear of forgetting all year
(They every used Thursday and Friday afternoon for the whole school
year to train the K teachers how to teach full-day Kindergarten. I am
not making this up. Never mind that Matthew's teacher had 30+ years of
teaching experience which included many years of full-day kindergarten
and other early grades. She was not impressed by the training. I
cannot imagine that even for newer teachers, the difference between
teaching half-day K and full-day K required some 70 afternoons to
teach!)

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

As a soccer coach, I hate it when kids are late. It is not fair to the kids
who are on time, because I have to stop what I am doing to get the late kids
involved. And it is not fair to the kids who are late, because they miss the
first part of practice and don't really get up to speed. And, gee, I am a
volunteer. It is not fair to me either.

Jeff