If you are like most parents these days, you probably are feeling a bit overwhelmed at your daily and weekly schedules. How did we come so far from our grandparents lives? Did you ever hear your Grandma talking about soccer practice, gymnastics then piano lessons all in one day?
Around my town, parents go to every practice for every sport or event. I actually loved it when my oldest was little because I'd tote the boys (younger) with me and have my social hour with my friends on the soccer field while watching our daughters play soccer and our little kids play around our feet. We'd bring snacks to share with everyone and chairs and blankets. It was like a picnic two nights a week.
Then something happened. My second child grew up enough to have his own sporting events. And before I knew it, I was packing everyone around five nights a week to different ball fields and practices. We were exhausted and grumpy and couldn't take one more night of "crockpot". I thought it would never end.
The next few years got worse. Now all three of my kids had events and sometimes they overlapped. I now had to be "one of those" parents who dropped off my kid and ran to the next thing. I was missing out on my social hour with grown ups and I needed that time. I was tired and my kids were too busy and now I felt guilty for not staying around the fields. It was a destructive cycle.
So, I ask...when did this generation of ours decide we have to do it all and by ourselves? I'd think it was just this way in my town, but I've heard countless stories of other moms and dads being run ragged.
More to come....
This is a great post. I remember I had so much fun just playing catch in the front yard with my dad! No teams, no rules and uniforms. Just ordinary good old fashion fun. At our church, we just had a speaker from Zimbabwe come and tell us about the country. He said it is very different in other countries. He grew up in the States but has been in Zimbabwe for over 6 years. When visiting the United States, he gets a culture shock. We are always on the move. He said here, you have to jump in line and start moving. In other countries it is not this way. Maybe we need to take a lesson from around the world and slow down so we can truly enjoy our kids, families and lives.
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