I love D&D and have an on-going game that occurs twice a month on the first and third Saturday evenings of the month. The game has been going for a little over two years and I love it so much.
I am a father and husband too. Unfortunately, my wife is frustrated with having those Saturdays taken up on the schedule where she has to schedule things around them or go without me (vacations, family outings, etc). Admittedly she has done well at scheduling and should be given credit for her tolerance thus far.
Those of you who are successfully managing family schedules and gaming, what is your secret?
Family vacations should definitely take priority. I know it’s hard when you have a whole group depending on you, but it sounds like you’re being inflexible in a way that is putting a burden on your partner.
Rereading the post I see how you can think that. I am not generally inflexible on these dates and am willing to cancel if it’s important. I make that clear and have definitely missed more than a few for vacations. Vacations take priority, in that we agree. She does try her best to avoid game days as she knows it’s important to me.
Vacations are also easier as they are known well in advance. More of the frustration comes, I think, when a one off event happens. For example on Monday, we got invited to a Christmas party for this weekend. This is also a D&D weekend thus conflict.