I'm wondering how working mothers balance the need to do their job, meet skating demands (training, competitions, travel etc) for their children and have a life of their own.

Since my kids have been skating seriously I've found the hardest thing not only the cost (and that's bad enough) but the demands on my time, which seem to be ridiculously early in the morning or before the end of the working day.

Is it just me or is the pace ultimately unsustainable?

I was a single and working mom - but I did have a job with flexible hours. My kids are off in college but I do remember being tired a lot. Because I couldn't get away a lot of weekends my dd often went to competitions with her coach.

You are in control though and you can put limits on it.

j

I, too, was lucky in that I had flexible hours. For years, though, I got up at 4 so my daughter could skate before school. Some of the working moms now at my rink send their kids with grandparents or babysitters, and some work out arrangements with other moms so that one picks up the kids from school and brings them to the rink and the other comes over after work. It is an ongoing problem, but we all figured out different ways to adapt our schedules to the rink schedule. If only you could skate when you wanted to, instead of only when they let you! As far as having a life of my own, I took up skating!

We are supposed to have lives of our own?

That is how I do it.

Compared to some other sports, at least I can work skating (private lessons, on ice and off ice classes) around my schedule a bit.

I rely on the help of a lot of people. My husband, for one, and the other skating moms, for another. We have some carpool arrangements - I drive one day and the other mom drives another day. But I can't really get my daughter to the rink as much as she would like. She is currently skating 4 times per week, but would like to be skating 5 or 6. We only do 3 or 4 competitions per year, so that is not a major problem. But I don't really have a life of my own - which is ok, I won't have my daughter forever, I need to enjoy her now. And I do skate too, so I have something to do while I'm at the rink.

Couldn't do it without my husband. He drives to competitions; cooks dinner when we're coming in late; drives skates to the sharpener; and does housework etc to make up for my frequent absences. Also, our eldest daughter (now 14) cooks meals, cleans, babysits for us so that we can meet all of the demands of two parents who work full time - and that's part of the understanding re: her skating 5 days a week. Our son similarly has responsibilities ... even the littlest one chips in. It's a whole team effort.

Our family vacations are built around skating competitions ... when we get them.

However, my husband will NOT do hair and makeup - that's totally mine!

Our club's sessions start late afternoon and run into the evening, and on weekends; no early mornings or daytime. That makes it bearable ... for extra ice, a cab/taxi account that picks them up from school and delivers them to the arena is a sanity preserver, however, we generally refuse this type of thing (with the coach's total support) as we do not care to remove them from school for any reason, and it occurs rarely.

Well, I'm not a skating mom, but I manage to get DD to the rink afternoons and evenings because of my work schedule (4am - 12:45pm). Then it's home to prepare dinner and help with the homework. I don't get a whole lot of sleep but it is so worth it to watch DD advance. Mom works evening shift so she is only involved with skating on weekends. I get all of the best assignments such as building props, putting together a costume, or just sitting for two or three hours a day watching her practice. I swear I've got this cryogenics (sp?) thing going that is slowly preserving me.

Oh and a life? My life is being a figure skate dad, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

__________________
Supporting my daughter's dream

Same here! My 14 year old in a competitive equestrian, but she is able to help with babysitting on weekends so once in a while we go out- and yes, we too plan family vacations with skating and with horse shows. Ditto on the hair!

Doesn't everybody?

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

LOL! Our dd went to a synchro camp last year and we stayed with our pop up camper near by- we were laughing about how our kid is going to some expensive skate camp at a boarding school and we get a red neck vacation!

I'm lucky enough to work near an ice rink, so I go skating on my lunch breaks and occasionally before work. Weekends are family time, so either everyone goes skating or no one goes... unless I sneak out to the crack of dawn session before everyone wakes up!

__________________
http://www.swizzlesandtwizzles.blogspot.com

I do find it helpful to have my groceries delivered. It may sound silly but it is a time saver. And most of the time it doesn't cost me anything or much to have it delivered. I'm not sure where you live but I use Stop and Shop's - -Peapod.com. They are always sending coupons to me online for discounted or free delivery.