What ages did your kids take up a majority of your "free time" (1 Viewer)

[Tiger Fan]

I thought about making this a poll, but there are so many variables; I didn't think that the results would have mattered too much...so I guess I'd rather have a "free flowing" discussion.

I'm just curious as to what ages did your kids take up a lot of time....I'm curious b/c I'm looking at a few career options in my current company, but I want to be spending as much time with my kids as possible, especially when they actually want to spend time with me.

I assume, that the "middle school" age would be the most busy; and high school would be the least busy. But I could be completely wrong

No right or wrong answer here, just looking for different perspectives.

 

[Da Guru]

The day they were born.

My dad never went to one thing of mine growing up. I vowed when my kids were born never to miss anything.

 

[El Floppo]

mine are 4 & 8, so not a large sample pool for me...

the early, pre-school age ages feel like they take up the most time so far... if only because they're too young to be on their own and don't have school to spend time away from you. that puts them in your care all day except when they're sleeping.

 

[bagger]

Have a 5, 3 and newborn.

Once they hit preschool activities start but with kindergarten we have stuff pretty much every day and getting busier.

My thought would he should they are all in formal school. With that said today we have a soccer practice for one from 5-6, and another 6-7. Saturday we have games back to back as well.

 

[Brony]

mine are 4 & 8, so not a large sample pool for me...

the early, pre-school age ages feel like they take up the most time so far... if only because they're too young to be on their own and don't have school to spend time away from you. that puts them in your care all day except when they're sleeping.

Pretty much same for me. When they are younger (4 or less), I couldn't do anything without them being on top of me. Now at 7 & 9, they can play independently for hours and can easily be dropped off at friend's house for hours. Sure they are in a few more activities now, but there's no need to stick around at dance practices.

 

[rick6668]

Middle School is definitely busy, not sure High School is less busy though until your child can drive.

I have a 7 year old girl - 2nd grade, 12 year boy - 7th Grade, 15 year old boy - 10th grade.

7 year old. Least busy. Played soccer a few times not currently, takes piano lessons.

12 year old. Most busy. Plays Trumpet in Band, Chorus, Middle School Soccer, Ice Hockey, Boy Scouts

Goes to school early 4 days a week, stays after school for soccer pretty much every day, has hockey 2-3 nights per week, games start in a month, will take up some weekends, has Scouts 1 day per week and weekend campouts once a month that he sometimes makes.

15 year old. Busy. Plays Trumpet and French horn in Band, Boy Scouts, Explorers at Fire Dept

Not into sports. Has Scouts 1 day per week and weekend campouts once a month that usually makes. Heavily involved in planning/leadership, working on Eagle. Explorers, Meetings twice a month plus events roughly twice a month. This is going to start taking up more and more time.

Not to mention Homework etc.

Add this on top of me working 55-60 hours per week and my wife going back to school full time this semester.

I have no spare time currently.

If I were to rank them to answer your question,

Grammar school - least busy

Middle School - most busy

High School - medium busy

 

[FUBAR]

0-12

0-2 is busy just keeping them alive

2-5 is busy with their needs and them wanting your attention all the time

5-10 is only as busy as you make it with extra curriculars and what you want to do with them

10-12 so far has been the easiest and they can do most things for themselves

13-16 (speculating as our oldest is 12) will probably be busy driving them places depending how busy they are.

 

[Tiger Fan]

Middle School is definitely busy, not sure High School is less busy though until your child can drive.

I have a 7 year old girl - 2nd grade, 12 year boy - 7th Grade, 15 year old boy - 10th grade.

7 year old. Least busy. Played soccer a few times not currently, takes piano lessons.

12 year old. Most busy. Plays Trumpet in Band, Chorus, Middle School Soccer, Ice Hockey, Boy Scouts

Goes to school early 4 days a week, stays after school for soccer pretty much every day, has hockey 2-3 nights per week, games start in a month, will take up some weekends, has Scouts 1 day per week and weekend campouts once a month that he sometimes makes.

15 year old. Busy. Plays Trumpet and French horn in Band, Boy Scouts, Explorers at Fire Dept

Not into sports. Has Scouts 1 day per week and weekend campouts once a month that usually makes. Heavily involved in planning/leadership, working on Eagle. Explorers, Meetings twice a month plus events roughly twice a month. This is going to start taking up more and more time.

Not to mention Homework etc.

Add this on top of me working 55-60 hours per week and my wife going back to school full time this semester.

I have no spare time currently.

If I were to rank them to answer your question,

Grammar school - least busy

Middle School - most busy

High School - medium busy

thx. this is kind of what i assume as well. Hopefully high school mitigated a bit by driving when of age

 

[James Daulton]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

 

[trogg78]

6-16

 

[Da Guru]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

I have 2 daughters. When they were in college not one day went by without getting at least 2-3 texts each from them. When they left we made a vow that there would never be one day that goes by without us talking or texting at least once. It is still intact. Most days I get at least 5 texts a day.

 

[BowieMercs]

birth till they were off at college.

 

[James Daulton]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

I have 2 daughters. When they were in college not one day went by without getting at least 2-3 texts each from them. When they left we made a vow that there would never be one day that goes by without us talking or texting at least once. It is still intact. Most days I get at least 5 texts a day.

I don't get 5 texts/day from my wife.

 

[Mr. Ected]

I think it has a lot to do with what the kids do outside of school. I have an 8 y.o. girl, and 11 and 13 y.o. boys in 3rd, 6th, and 7th grades respectively. The little girl does the most, with dance, GS, sewing and skating. The boys do less, so their schedules are easier to deal with.

Elementary school is more hands on, and I believe as they get older, you are able to drop them off at stuff like practice, and run to do other things, which makes it better to 'multitask.'

 

[Da Guru]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

I have 2 daughters. When they were in college not one day went by without getting at least 2-3 texts each from them. When they left we made a vow that there would never be one day that goes by without us talking or texting at least once. It is still intact. Most days I get at least 5 texts a day.

I don't get 5 texts/day from my wife.

Neither do I.

 

[5Rings]

The better question would be when does the time consumption stop?

11-8-6, all on every sport. No free time and I love it.

People ask what my hobbies are....I tell them I'm a Dad and coach of three boys

 

[Spin]

The day they were born.

My dad never went to one thing of mine growing up. I vowed when my kids were born never to miss anything.

My dad is the exact same way. His dad was out of his life before he turned 2. My dad skipped his own dad's funeral. But he vowed to not miss anything. He even still comes to my flag football and soccer games. And I'm 29.

 

[Spin]

I have a 3 year old and 1 year old. Not sure what this "free time" is that you speak of.

 

[moleculo]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

I have 2 daughters. When they were in college not one day went by without getting at least 2-3 texts each from them. When they left we made a vow that there would never be one day that goes by without us talking or texting at least once. It is still intact. Most days I get at least 5 texts a day.

I don't get 5 texts/day from my wife.

I don't get 5 texts/week...from anyone.

 

[Bull Dozier]

Agree with most of what people are saying here. I have two boys (13 and 12). My step daughter is a freshman in college. Based on personal experience, once they have a car, their occupance of your free time drops immensely.

My boys went through the following progression:

0-5 - took 99% of my free time. My wife worked a couple of nights a week here, so all of my nights were with the boys (either just me and them, or family time). Any "free time" that did not involve kids had to be pre-arranged (I don't say this as in it was a problem for me. I usually preferred hanging out with my boys over hanging out with the "guys").

5-8 - Still took a lot of my free time, but it was easier to get away since they were more independent, and it wasn't totally draining to have to watch them yourself. They were increasingly more fun to hang out with though, so my time away was still limited.

8-13 - Back to 99%. Most of my "free time" now involves coaching their sports, running the local basketball association, helped run football for a few years, or just hanging out. I know my window of coaching/spending that much time with them is near an end. Once they get to high school that will end obviously. I'm going to squeeze in as much time with them while I can.

I have sacrificed my career so I could spend as much time with them as I could. I won't regret spending too much time with my kids.

 

[avoiding injuries]

My oldest is 5 and I want to spend as much free time with her as possible. < 4, not so much.

It hasn't gotten to a point where the require most of my free time.

 

[Spin]

This is also true. My oldest is 3 atm, and finally getting to the stage where he's forming sentences, and thoughts and is able to interact and wrestle, etc.

I could leave the baby stage. Not a fan... Not a fan at all..

 

[Dentist]

i have a 20 month old and a 3 month old, I don't know what this free time you speak of is, but I'm definitely interested in when it starts.

 

[acarey50]

I've got 3 boys - 10, 8 and 4, all involved in multiple sports, and I try coach a lot of their sports, which translates into busy time for me.

Like Da Guru, I also try make as much of their stuff as possible (not always able to make all of the school awards/shows, but I try) or when games overlap my wife and I do our best to make sure one of us is at each of their games - in fact, we were just mapping out how we are going to handle this Saturday with 3 soccer games, one starting at 8am, one at 9am and one at 9:30, all at different locations.

The multiple kids doing a bunch of sports makes for a hectic schedule, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Have made a ton of good friends through the sports and have developed a bit of a passion for coaching basketball (it's the only one where I'll keep coaching my kids above the recreational level and have seriously considered opportunities to coach teams that my kids are not part of, though I will likely continue to pass on those opportunities until my own kids are a bit older)

 

[moleculo]

my girls are 6 and 8...it feels like we are just now getting a little free time in that they can entertain themselves for good chunks of the weekend and after school.

 

[FUBAR]

I'd say from when they stop taking naps until high school the kids consume a large portion of time. This diminishes through the high school years. When they're off to college you'll be lucky to get a text from them once a week. Unless they need money that is.

depends. My Sister in law, whom I've known since she was 9, did a lot with her mom throughout her school years and college, even after college they've kept a tight relationship.

 

[Fat Nick]

My wife and I both have pretty involved careers, and I have a 1-hour commute. Our one and only son just turned 15 months. Basically, mid-week we might get an hour or two at the most a night of "free" time once he's gone to bed, we eat dinner, and finish chores and any work that spilled over to home. On the weekends, maybe a little more if we split up and one of us takes him for a while.

When he was pre-walking, it was a real burden. I enjoyed time with him, but I got bored and preoccupied thinking of all the crap I needed to get done. Now that he's 15 months, and running all over the place and interacting, pretty much all I want to do is do things with him anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.

 

[eoMMan]

http://www.awakeparent.com/Shelly/time-away-from-kids/

 

[Wooderson]

Twin 2 year old boys. I think it's getting better as far as free time. But Twin 4 year olds sound pretty cool.

 

[Chadstroma]

Free time?

 

[NutterButter]

I guess it also depends what you're trying to accomplish in your free time. My kids are 6 and 9 and they're starting to have a lot more practices for swimming and violin which takes up time, but when they're home, I pretty much can do whatever I want around the house. They no longer need to be watched when they go out and play with the neighborhood kids. In a few years when I feel more comfortable doing this, when they're home, I can leave them alone which gives me even greater freedom to go biking or hit up some stores for a home improvement project. As far as practices, wife and I take turns so that actually free's up time as well when its her turn to take them. It also depends on the type of childhood you want your kid to have and what balance you want to achieve with your own life. My wife wants to be one of those super mom's that wants to make their kids childhoods so filled with experience weekend after weekend. I'm not one of those parents. I grew up just playing around the neighborhood for the most part and remember having a very nice childhood so that's the approach I mostly take. A couple of times a month, I'll take part in a weekend activity like hiking, kayaking, beach, carnival, etc. Other than that I think is going overboard.

 

[Tiger Fan]

Good discussion guys