As parents, we all want the best and the most for our children. But that can’t always happen for a variety of reasons.

Like a lot of families at this point in the summer, ours is trying to finalize our boys’ fall sports schedules.

For the youngest, it’s easy. He wants to play flag football for the fifth year in a row in a recreation league that practices one night a week and plays on Saturday mornings in the same one-hour game slot every time. The practice and game slots are the exact same day, time and location each week. It doesn’t get much easier than that in terms of family scheduling.

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For our 11-year-old, it’s not so simple this year. He is debating a switch from the aforementioned flag football league to different, more intense ones. That decision in and of itself is difficult enough given he’d be leaving many friends behind in the other league. But add to that the fact that in this new league, the practice and game situations aren’t as simple as we’ve been spoiled with in the other one, and the decision becomes even harder.

One of the two new football leagues we are considering practices three nights a week and games are either on Saturday or Sunday at various times of the day. A third league option has practices that are determined on a weekly basis depending largely on the coach’s schedule and the availability off the field. In other words, as a family, we have to be available any evening to get him to and from practice. Games are much like the other league, any weekend day at any time.

For my wife and I, fall is without a doubt our busiest season in terms of “other” commitments in addition to our full-time jobs. Therefore, what this means is that we have to decide what sports our kids play based largely on our availability as parents, aka our kids’ chauffeurs.

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And that’s OK.

We’ve already ruled out the league with the sporadic practice schedule. It’s just not conducive to our family schedule.

What we are still deciding is if we can manage for our oldest to join the league that practices three times a week. Although it’s a consistent three times – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – our other son’s flag football practice could easily fall on the same night, which might also be one of the two nights I have evening work commitments every single week. As amazing as my wife is, she can’t be in two places at once.

The easy decision would be to tell him he has to play in his old league, which would mean both boys are practicing once a week on the same night at the same complex, a huge perk for us. And both would be playing within an hour of each other on Saturday mornings at the same complex.

As of right now, we have yet to decide whether or not we will make the decision or allow our son to. The good thing is, we know when it’s all said and done, he’ll be happy either way just to be playing flag football. The bad news is, it might not be in the league he would choose first.

And therein lies the lesson of youth sports that carries into life: You can’t always have it all (your first choice of which league to play in), and instead just be grateful you have something (an opportunity to play flag football).

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Jon Buzby has been involved in and writing about youth sports for the past 30 years, originally as a coach and board member with his now-adult son and most recently "just as a dad" with his 9- and 11-year-old sons. Jon is an award-winning writer and his latest book, “Coaching Kids Made Easier,” is available on Amazon. Send comments or future blog topics you'd like to see to JonBuzby@hotmail.com and follow him @YouthSportsBuzz on Twitter.