What happened to the days when we could come home from school, do our homework, and go outside to play with our friends? I knew some kids in sports then, but the majority of us would just go outside to play jump rope, run in the sprinklers, play tag, hide and seek, kick ball, and pretend games involving our bikes. We also spent hours doing amusing activities like seeing who could spit cherry seeds the furthest.
Now that I have kids, it seems even the two-year-olds are overbooked with swimming lessons, ballet, gymnastics, T-ball, etc. And the more kids join these activities, the more kids feel like they deserve it too, and then more parents are forking out money they don’t have on uniforms, class fees, plus the gas they spend carting their children all over town.
Why?
It’s been difficult, because my kids want to be like the other kids, but I want my children home for dinner so we can be close to each other. I want to spend time teaching them music, reading them books, and not to mention, do the things that enrich my life rather than spend my evenings driving people around. This was my mom’s philosophy too, “I’m not your taxi!”
I am not completely anti-activity – not at all. But it gets carried too far. I was in piano lessons, which involved the teacher coming to my home, and I was in gymnastics for a while (until it just got too expensive and I had a choice between that and piano). I just think that when a family can’t ever gather at the dinner table together, priorities need to be reevaluated. It’s such an important time to catch up with each other.
I know when my kids are older, it will get harder and harder for us to all be together, but I refuse to start this process when they are so little. I’m grateful for the church’s counsel to simplify our lives, recognizing that families are getting far too busy. There is a lot of fun to be had without breaking our budget or weakening our relationships.
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