We are August vacationers and late August at that, so I’m not too enamored with the fall sports schedules. It seems like every year, practices start earlier. This leaves parents two options — forgo August vacations or blow off practice.

We’ve chosen the latter. My girls had a week of field hockey practice before we left and have missed the rest. My older son is missing two weeks of soccer practice and even my 5-year-old is missing a practice. There’s not a fall sport out that waits until Labor Day to begin. It’s bad enough that school vacations are getting shorter but sports starting at the beginning of August? It just doesn’t seem right.

My kids are still fairly young and I don’t think the missed practices are a big deal this year, but it won’t be long before missing practice will not be an option. And I don’t like it. I’m not OK with cutting vacation short — even if we don’t go anywhere. We are crazy hectic 11 months of the year so one month off is a necessity. Is that too much for a mom to ask? Next year, I’m seriously considering suggesting my older kids not play a fall sport. Unless they are totally in love with the sport (which doesn’t seem to be the case at this point) then I think we should just cut it out.

Not only will we be able to vacation without the guilt of missing practice, our fall will be much less hectic when we return and much more enjoyable.