The World’s Most Dangerous Game: Registering For Your Kid’s Activities

The subtle art of trying to navigate a park district website and a child's hopes and dreams.

Photo by Brett Wharton on Unsplash

Every few months, there’s an incredibly important mark on the calendar. It’s not a birthday, holiday, or anniversary. It’s the day when I need to register my kids for activities with the local park district. But it’s not just a day, you see. It’s an exact time. 8:00 AM on the dot. No sooner, and no later. I have fumbled the bag on this particular moment in the past, which is why I’m so paranoid about registering my kids now.

You don’t want to be a parent that lets your kid get on the waitlist, do you? 

I have been that parent. I’ve been on the waitlist, hoping a kid cancels. But lo, the call never came, and my child did not make the class. I may have lied to my children and told them the class was not being offered. They can’t know Dad messed up!!! I’ve tried to learn from my mistakes, and earlier this month, I had my most advanced test: 

Advanced
Beginner
Girls 
Gymnastics

This class is a huge deal for my oldest, and I could not screw this up. Lemme explain, and how it involved an iPad, a notecard, several browser tabs, and a little bit of luck.