Operation Streamline

Life as a parent gets hectic. Heck now-a-days, life as a child is hectic. There's dance, and softball and girl scouts and the other various activities we can get our children involved in. Kris and I vowed from the beginning to avoid becoming the "busy every night of the week parents." Not because we are selfish but because we've seen first hand what having children too involved does to them and we both agree its not good for any child to be so busy they can't enjoy anything. We have friends who allow their children to be involved in 5 or more activities at a time. I see how their kids quickly become burnt out and act up when they are being carted from one activity to another. I've also seen how these children don't know how to act when there is absolutely nothing going on. They can't entertain themselves. This is what I want to avoid! However, for some reason, our generation has decided to over do it on everything. Softball isn't just a summer pastime, its a year-round event. It's not just something fun to do fill up summer nights, it's a "get our little girl on track for a scholarship starting at age 8," activity. Let's get her in lessons, and then batting practice in January, let's fill up our schedule with practice this week and practice next week, and let's book every weekend from Spring to Fall in tournaments. Seriously? And we wonder why our kids get burnt out. Why they have absolutely no attention spans and why they're unhappy. We aim to limit the girls to two activities at a time. Both P's are in dance one night a week. I put them in classes that are back to back to avoid multiple nights at the dance studio. Yes, that means we are there for an hour and a half one night a week, but it works, for now. Big P is involved in basketball for the Upward program. It is a winter only activity and runs through the end of February. So there are her two activities, or so one would think. See above paragraph. I'm not blaming her coach, I blame the system and the fact that parents are so single-minded on being so damn competitive at 8 and under (yes 8!)that in order to compete and not get spanked every game like last year, we have to hold practices year-round. So there are three nights of our week...bam bam bam. Not to mention Saturday mornings reserved for her basketball games through the end of next month. I feel bad, almost like Little P is getting the shaft. Yes, she is in dance the same night as sister. She is also involved in first grade girl scouts, but that doesn't really count since their meetings are so sporatic. She wants music lessons. So I am lining up guitar lessons soon I hope. She played softball two years in a row, and while she has some talent there, she has decided she'd rather pursue gymnastics this summer. I have to find a way to give her the freedom to explore her own way and still support Big P in her activities. I don't know how families with more than two children juggle it. I do not want to be an every night of the week family! It doesn't work with our Fire/EMS schedules and my sanity. So we are looking at ways to streamline it all. And not end up paying major bucks to get our kids involved. Hoping to find some peace and the ability to maintain the fun in it all for both girls!