Seven steps to set up kid carpools
We are a soccer family.
I’m a walking cliche of a soccer mom with my minivan, orange slices, folding chairs. I live so many hours on or en route to “the pitch” and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My two youngest play in a recreational league, and my oldest plays in a travel league as well as for his school. That means three kids on four teams in the fall season (11-12 practices and 4-7 games a week) and three teams in the spring season (6-7 practices and 3-5 games a week). And as of yet, I have not figured out how to clone myself, nor are Ubers available in our rural area, so suffice it to say it takes a village to get my family where they need to go.
Particularly for my oldest child’s travel league, I have learned the value of carpooling and volunteer as tribute to set it up each season. If the idea of thinking through carpool logistics gives you hives…
Take a deep breath. We’ve got you covered.
Here are seven tried-and-true steps for setting up kid carpools.
Step 1: Identify the who. Who else has kiddos on your kiddo’s team? Who else is in your geographic area? It has to make sense that participating in carpool saves everyone time and money, so this typically means keeping a fairly narrow radius.
Step 2: Propose rules, norms, and expectations up front. Do you expect everyone to take an equal number of turns? How early do you want your children to arrive at a practice, etc. Here are the norms of our carpool, as an example:
The driver for a given day determines the best meet up spot for pick up and/or drop off and communicates with the families.
If life happens, we extend each other a lot of grace, but please communicate changes as early as possible.
I also communicate that I view my role as the initial organizer to set things up, but the carpool route now belongs to the collective group. If something comes up and their child is sick, it’s up to them to communicate to the folks in their route. I don’t want to be last minute middlewoman on important information.
Step 3: Ask folks “who’s in?” I recommend having a fixed amount of time to spread the word and respond. I highly recommend one central point of contact to express interest. If you’re new to an area or are struggling to find folks, consider asking the sports/activity league to help you get the word out, with narrow, specific parameters so you don’t get a deluge of responses.
Step 4: Collect important information, as painlessly and simply as possible. Group texts can be painful. Consider setting up a form - or have people email you with key information you need to help set up a schedule. Information I request is:
Names/ages of kids
Days/times/locations of their activities
Drivers’ names, vehicle descriptions , and number of open seats in their vehicle, excluding driver and their child
Home addresses to figure out meet up points
Any dates you already know you’re not available (because you’re on vacation or traveling for work, as an example)
Step 5: Look for overlap in schedules and assign drivers. Once you identify which kids need to be at the same places at the same times, create a schedule that equitably shares driving responsibilities, working around vehicle room and date availability. Consider naming/color coding routes.
Step 6: Share the schedule - and recommunicate rules/norms/expectations. I like to use a Google Sheet with view only privileges so folks can look at it, download a copy and print or manipulate it as they need without messing up the original document. Keep reading for screenshots of a sample Google Sheet I built.
Step 7: Define communicate channels. Encourage each separate carpool route/group to set up a communication channel - like a text thread or email - and name it so it’s easy to pull up in your phone and keep straight (such as “Monday Green Route” or “Thursday Striker Carpool”). I personally don’t want to have to cross reference the schedule every week, so I add events to my calendar that specify who’s driving. As a courtesy to the folks in my route, I share these calendar invitations. This is not required by any means, as it’s time consuming up front, but I share it as an additional communication and planning tool. In dealing with adults, no one wants to be micromanaged, but supportive tips are appreciated.
Richmond Strikers and Goochland United friends, thank y’all for helping me get my people where they need to go - and for allowing me to nerd out on my spreadsheets. Speaking of spreadsheets, let’s get to that…
Ready, set, go!
If this resource is all you need, time to jump in the minivan and get to the pitch! But if you need more support, here are additional resources:
Check out the sample spreadsheet below I created for our folks. Create one on your own and voila!
Or maybe you need to delegate the carpool orchestration task entirely. We can manage do it for you! Shoot me an email and we can flush out details.
We can help with creating carpool schedules - and so much more!
At Laura Kassner Consulting, our mission is to reduce your mental load so you can pursue things that bring you joy. From devising systems to make your home function smoothly to research and planning skills to make memories or navigate big life decisions, we are here to support you. Book a free 15 minute consultation and let’s discuss what is weighing on your mind.
