It’s common knowledge that youth sports have taken a bit of a weird turn for kids today. Travel sports start younger. Practices are constant. Games schedules take over families’ entire autonomy. This also counts for school sports as kids get older. So, recreational sports leagues have always been known to be a better alternative to the madness of travel or “elite” youth sports leagues, but is that really true?
One mom on TikTok (@theflockingbennetts) wanted the opinions of other parents with kids in youth sports, specifically rec sports, to see how often they are practicing and having games, alluding to the fact that her kid’s schedule is a bit intense for a seven-year-old.
“Question for the moms of TikTok, I think they can help. Rec sports, I’m not talking travel, competitive, just recreational sports. How many days a week are your kids practicing?” she asks.
“My seven-year-old is practicing four days a week, two-hour practices, plus has games on Saturdays. It’s like a part-time job for a seven-year-old. So I need to know how many days a week is your kid practicing and what sport is it? Thank you.”
Hundreds of parents weighed in on the OP’s video, sharing their kids’ schedules for rec sports.
One parent wrote, “Rec football/cheer is 4 days a week plus game on Saturday. It’s a little extreme if you ask me, but they like it.”
One user noted, “That’s is such an unrealistic expectation. Ours is 1 day week 1 hour. Personally I feel that 2 days 1 hour would be more than sufficient because this 1 day doesn’t allow them enough time to retain”
The OP replied, “I think 2 days is realistic. But right now we are Monday-Thursday 6pm-8pm plus games on Saturday. It’s SO much”
One mom wrote, “That was how often my kid practiced for tackle football. It was no joke! 🤣”
“Sooo maybe it’s a tackle football thing. She is cheering for tackle football. We are at the end of the season now but trying to figure out if we can do this again next year. It’s so much,” the OP replied.
Another user asked, “That’s insane. I have a 5 year old — not real experience with this — but from an outsider perspective it’s way too much! When is he relaxing or like, coloring? Idk I have daughters lol”
The OP answered, “She’s a girl! I guess I didn’t say that but exactly. She no longer wants to do sports because her homework is being impacted and I feel so bad. Trying to tell her this isn’t normal lol”
One parent noted that, these days, kids are just busy going from one sport and activity to the next.
“Honestly, I filled my kids days up with activities when they turned 3. For example, at 3, My daughter did rec cheer, tumbling, drawing lessons, ballet and tap dance and violin lessons. Busy every day,” they wrote.
The OP understood where this commenter was coming from, but wanted to drive the point home that her daughter’s busy schedule was from one activity.
“Right. But this is one sport. This is for rec cheer. She also does tumbling and baton but those are different days. I just think 8 hours of practice plus cheering at games is a lot for 1 sport,” she said.
With the madness of youth sports, some parents think that recreational sports leagues were the best of both worlds, but is that really the case?
