Learner Dad: Why do some people sign up for everything? Good things happen in free time

The golden rule of parenting is that you can slot three different activities into a four-hour slot if you try hard enough. And if you don’t try hard enough, you’re not doing right by your child, you terrible parent

Picture: iStock 

Here’s a suggestion if you reckon your kids are overloaded with after-school activities. Move house.

It’s certainly working for us. Now, you have to move a good half an hour’s drive away from where you live, or else you’ll just end up in your old after-school places, but with a longer drive. We’re about 40 minutes from our old place so there is no chance of a trek back to Cork city for a spot of gymnastics. Or Gaelic football, soccer, drama, swimming, ukulele lessons, hip-hop dancing and I’ve probably forgotten one or two others because my wife did most of the ferrying.