Life is hard. Being a kid is hard. Being the parent of a busy kid is hard, too. I’m not the parent of a busy kid…well…they’re busy, but not in the sense that I’m talking about. I am meaning busy as in going to school, having after school practice, having tons of homework, and barely getting enough sleep. Then, when it’s TIME to rest on Saturday, they have stuff to do that day, too! What’s UP with over-scheduling these children? Why can’t they be kids while they still have the opportunity to?
If you’re the parent of a teen or even elementary aged child, when was the last time that you all sat down to eat a nice, calm, relaxed meal prepared at home? I don’t know, maybe it’s happening more than I know, but it seems to me like our kids are far too busy and need down time.
When I was growing up, nothing was scheduled for Sunday or Wednesday night. Now I’m hearing all of the time about practices or games Sunday morning, Wednesday night, times that were reserved for church, right? I’m sure it’s been going on in the bigger cities and non-religious areas of the country for some time, but it’s just ridiculous. There is not a single sacred time. Kids come home from events late and are expected to wake up early for school or the even more ridiculous before school practice.
So what’s the solution? Slow down!! If you’re frantically running all over the place all of the time, your kids will think it’s what they’re supposed to do. Just slooooow down and enjoy your kids and your spouse.
It’s easy for me to say “make the child pick ONE thing they’re good at let that be the only thing,” because my kids are too young for sports and extra curricular activities, (even though they’re available.) I know that’s hard, though, and sometimes that one thing is too much. Even if you play one sport or are in the band, you still have tons of practices and then at least one big game per week, right? I don’t know, but just know that if you find yourself too busy to talk to your spouse, your kids, and God about anything but schedules, it’s probably time to cut back on activities.
ticklemetiffyyyy
Monday 24th of October 2011
The worst is when it continues on throughout the summer too where they have camp from morning til early afternoon then practices in the evening. All of this 5and days out of the week st least plus games plus them wanting to hang out with friends and I could go on but its why when my kids got old enough I started keeping them out of summer camp. That way they got a little time to sleep in and just be kids. Dont get me wrong, I know some kids who thrive on nonstop activities and would probably be in a world of trouble if they didnt have a full schedule to keep them occupied. I guess my point was I remember just enjoying my childhood and loving those lazy days of summer and I wanted my kids to have memories like that too, so we slowed down and I have to say its nice eating dinner together and I love the fact that its not just something I reheated or frozen pizza all of the time and I think the kids like it too.ticklemetiffy @gmail dot com
theabckidz
Friday 21st of October 2011
I agree, kids get too tired because they're too busy! Following you via GFC & FB from the Finding Friends weekend blog hop!Beccahttp://theABCkidZ.blogspot.com