my life revolves around driving kids to places

[deird1]

My Tuesday afternoons are about to be so much easier, and I'm having a logistics happy.


Previous version of Tuesdays:
- pack up all the stuff
- take daughter (and all the stuff) in the car to school
- pick up son from school
- give both kids a snack in the car
- drive to swimming pool
- carry all the stuff inside
- get two kids to the toilet, and all three of us changed into bathers
- YELL A LOT to get the kids to hurry up
- get into the swimming pool with the kids
- splash around in waist-deep water for fifteen minutes, while watching the clock
- walk two kids around to the other end of the swimming pool, to their swimming lessons
- go get dressed
- retrieve my book from the pile of stuff
- wait until the kids' lessons have finished
- get two kids to the toilet (again), and changed out of bathers
- YELL A LOT (again) to get the kids to hurry up
- carry all the stuff out to the car, and drive us all home

But I have now bought "surf ponchos" (giant ponchos made of towelling). So our new routine will look like this:
- take daughter in the car to school
- pick up son from school
- drive home
- give both kids a snack
- get two kids to the toilet, and changed into bathers
- drop surf ponchos over their heads
- drive to swimming pool
- walk two kids to their swimming lessons
- remove their surf ponchos
- read my book, and wait until the kids' lessons have finished
- drop surf ponchos over their heads
- drive us all home


SO MUCH EASIER. Plus, my previous version of "all the stuff" involved towels, bathers, goggles, snacks, and a book; now, I'll just have to carry goggles and a book.

Comments

[tielan]

Surf ponchos sound GREAT. Must have a look for those!

[deird1]

They are extremely convenient, yes. Be careful where you buy them though: I got them for $30 each, but the swimming pool was selling them for $85.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Congratulations on your logistics win!

[deird1]

Hurrah!

[hnpcc]

But... you don't get to go swimming now!!

[deird1]

True, but I was hardly swimming. More squatting in the water and attempting to keep track of two excitable children. :)

[lirazel]

NICE! I sometimes encounter things and I think, "That had to have been invented by a mom." This definitely sounds like one of those.

[deird1]

Totally.

[seal_girl]

I read the subject line and had flashbacks - then I realised life still revolves around driving younglings around.

Surf ponchos do sound nice and snuggly though and it all sounds a lot more straightforward :D

[deird1]

I read the subject line and had flashbacks - then I realised life still revolves around driving younglings around.

No!!! I want it to be over!

[immer_am_lesen]

*gasp*
Reading book, in stead of watching sprogs expertly flapping about in the water and feeling a sense of parental pride?
Tsk.
;-)

PS- Is it the new wearable towels, or the fact you're no longer getting changed and toileting in the public pool changeroom, nor yourself getting into the water for the pre-lesson splash that's improving things...? We found similar stress-and-time-saving, with getting kids and us into gear before leaving the house.

PPS- the cautious mother in me wants to know...how damp are the seats, after coming home wrapped in these ponchos?

[deird1]

It's the not getting changed in the changeroom. Both kids would need the toilet, so I'd have to keep the changeroom door open so they could get back in, and repeatedly holler at them to get OUT of the toilets and come get changed, and stop them from dropping stuff on a very wet floor, and pack all the clothes in a too-small bag...

Total chaos, basically.


The seats were surprisingly dry, for the most part.

[immer_am_lesen]

Family changerooms are the best; you can spread out a towel to keep things dry, take your time, and kids can go to the loo/ get changed etc in your sight. :-)
Of course, here the two family rooms are ALWAYS in use, and when a single kid comes out of them, argh.....

Glad you've found a way to make it easier.
One day we should get back to the pool. Now with four littlies though, yeesh...really not looking forward to that rodeo!