I always thought that it was quite silly to overwhelm your child with activities. If they are so busy with school, dance, soccer, music lessons, tutoring, etc. ad nauseum that they don't have time to just relax and be a kid, they are doing too much! (And it's going to drive poor Mom up the wall, too!)And now that my child is old enough to start doing more things, I suddenly have to eat my own words.
There are SO MANY wonderful opportunities out there. I would LOVE for Aidan to learn how to be safe in the water. I want him to interact with friends and learn how to share. I would love to have an outlet for him to move and get some energy out, especially during long MN winters. And many of the local mom-and-me classes sound like so much fun, especially since I want to take advantage of these last few months where it is just me and Little A. And, of course, I feel completely obligated to go to anything that I have already paid for (season pass, class fee, etc.) or that is a wonderful FREE opportunity. I mean, why would we want to miss out on something that's free?!
But good grief! There are too many things to do! This last week in particular, friends gave us a week pass to the local athletic club. It is an AMAZING place with lots of things that Aidan really enjoys (pool, huge sand pit, playground, toddler room full of climbing toys, cars, etc.). And I thought that we needed to go as much as possible to "get our money's worth".... you know, since I didn't pay anything at all! And I have come to the sad realization that you just can't do it all. You just end up with an overwhelmed toddler, a stressed mom, no down time, and a schedule that's way too hard to plan around.
I'm learning to say no. We continue to do fun, educational, enjoyable things every day, but I am giving up on trying every single thing. And it feels good. (Even though I still am sad at missing out on things.) Is this hard for anyone else???
4 comments:
It's hard for me to not over-schedule myself something. I have to remember what my dad would always tell me as a kid when I would want get upset about two conflicting activities that I had to choose between: Angela, you can't do everything.
(Side note: just make sure you teach your kids they can do ANYthing, just not EVERYthing.)
I'm with you Michelle. I can't say no. I think every semester of school will be less stressful than the previous one, but because I can't say no, I always end up taking on additional responsibilities, and I just get stuck trying to do everything. It's tough!
Opportunities are great, but so are relaxing times. Remember how Dad used to plan our vacations -- some were go-go-go-type vacations where we would see everything we could (like the East Coast Vacation), but some were like Lake Tahoe where we rented a house and just had fun relaxing together. And some had parts of both (Florida -- some days of the theme parks, and in between were fun stay-at-the-rented-house days where we swam in the back yard or played games). All of it is good. The variety is good.
I have the same problem. My lessons learned came mostly from the financial aspect of it. We learned to prioritize. We have 2 skills that are required in our house to learn. How to swim and how to play the piano. So those things we find the money for. Although, the piano lessons are free. :)
Other than that we let our kids try different things.
I also remember the talk by Julie Beck about Mothers who Know. And I look at all the great activities there are to do out there, and Dallin & I discuss if this is something that is going to take time away from the family or something we can all go do together as a family.
Post a Comment