On Time

Time is valuable.  My time is valuable even if there are those that say I am "JUST a stay at home mom".  I still value my time and I value Squirt's time and Hubby's time...But most of all, I value OUR time together as a family.

Here's what happened that got me thinking about time.

Friends of ours have three children, all between the ages of 7 to 15.  They are always on the go doing something, trying to balance a healthy family meal and getting two vehicles to three different places every single day of the week for some sports event or music lesson or dance recital.

In short, between public school and afterschool events these children are never home.  On weekends they are driving around the province (or to other provinces) for tournements of some kind.  And if not the children, then the parents are spending their time volunteering their time to help cut down on costs - work three bingos and they will pay for hotel costs, 40 hours in the kitchen at the rec plex and your ice fees are covered, etc etc.

Honestly, it was Squirt who said "I am glad we don't do that.  I like being at home rather than driving all over to lessons and tournements."

And that is just it.  How do the kids feel about never being at home?  Do they like being dragged along to sit in a cold arena at 4:30 in the morning for a practice or would they rather be at home?  Do they like having something going on every night of the week or do they wish they could just sit at home and watch a movie and eat popcorn?

I have seen it often, as a parent and as a former ps teacher, where parents schedule so much into their children's week but fail to ask the children what THEY want.  Personally, I think children NEED downtime as much as they need these other things.  Yeah, okay, your child loves to play baseball.  Get him on a team, sure...BUT does he also need to be on the soccer team and attend spring hockey training and music lessons at the same time OR is that what Mom and Dad want?

We asked Squirt what he wanted.  He loves bowling...He loves golf...He loves swimming.  So in the winter, he does bowling on the weekends.  In the summer we take swimming lessons at the outdoor pool.  In the spring when bowling ends, we start with the golf lessons.

The rest of his time, away from scheduled school time, is HIS time.  If he wants to take out a football and toss it around in the backyard with his friends, he is FREE to do so!  If he wants to practice his putting on the front lawn, he is free to do so because we aren't rushing off to daily swimming lessons just before baseball practice and then tomorrow we have to rush to music lessons before soccer just before rushing off to our weekly scout meeting.

I think people forget that children need the structure BUT they need the downtime to just be kids as well.

And I think parents need that as well.  Time to just sit and watch the children chasing bubbles and running through water sprinklers in the backyard while sipping lemonade.

I think we've forgotten that.
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