I think before I begin I need to give you an idea of what a week in our family looks like. I promise I'm not trying to win a contest for the busiest family, I know we wouldn't win and it's not something I want to win at!! So here it is. Sunday is church which begins with set-up at 7:30 am and ends somewhere around 12:30 when everything is finally put back in the trailer. Life Team Sunday afternoon/evening. Monday middle child baseball game. Tuesday I work most of the day, middle child piano lesson, oldest child baseball game. Wednesday middle child baseball game, oldest child baseball practice. Thursday I work again, oldest child baseball game. Friday-nothing scheduled but that ALWAYS changes. Saturday usually yard work that my husband doesn't have time for during the week due to coaching both boys in baseball! So days are not so bad right now because it's summertime, but we're at the baseball field four nights of the week! What in the world am I supposed to do about dinner? How am I ever going to get the little guy to bed at a decent time? I'm sure some of you think I'm crazy for stressing about this type of schedule, but I am indeed stressing.
I know sports are important for kids social as well as physical development and I want my kids to have the opportunity to try a bunch of sports, activities, etc., while they're young so they can narrow them down by the time they get to jr. high/high school. BUT, I hate having our family running a million different directions all the time and being too busy to cultivate our relationships with each other much less with other people in our lives. So my question to you is, how in the world do you find that balance? I used to think I had it under control. My kids were younger then...Now it's a constant struggle for me and I need to know if I just need to accept that this is what our like is going to look like until our kids go to college (and maybe even beyond that) or do I fight against it? I guess it would be a lot less stress on me if I were just to resign myself to the business, but I can't help feeling we're subjecting our family to unneeded stress. I start to see my kids getting exhausted, fighting, having an attitude with me and I see myself doing the same thing!
We have limited it to one sport at a time, but we have two kids involved in sports in different age brackets which equates to constant sports. My middle guy wants to learn guitar but must learn piano first, we're trying to encourage him in his interests. My oldest guy loves hunting (well, he loves the idea of hunting, has yet to pull the trigger) so lots of time is spent practicing shooting, learning, spending time with dad in the woods. How do I encourage them in their interests, talents and abilities while still maintaining some sort of stability in our home? Just one more area of parenting I have a great fear of failing at, am probably stressing over something that can't be helped, worrying rather than enjoying this stage in our lives, etc. etc. etc. But I would love ideas, suggestions, what works or doesn't work for your family!
