Schedules

I haven't been writing here a lot lately because I spend most of my time on Facebook and Twitter. As we've all heard, there are a lot of channels out there to keep updated. I do like the fact that on FB and Twitter I know who is reading, and they are more apt to reply/engage in conversation. I only have a vague idea of who reads this blog - I can see how many visits I get from where in the world, but that's about it. Turns out, however, that there are a few people who actually enjoy reading my randomness. One of them even told my mom she misses my posts (Hi, Marsha!) - isn't that just the nicest?

So to re-introduce myself to my blog, it seems appropriate that I write about what's been keeping me from writing. Simply put: over-scheduled days. More specifically, the schedule we maintain for the kids. July was an absolutely crazy month with TBall Mondays and Wednesdays and then swimming Tuesdays and Thursday. We were all completely exhausted by Friday. We chose this sort of schedule knowing it was for only a month. Pat and I wanted Abby to try TBall and we wanted both of them to try a new swim school. We figured we could trade a crazy July for a calmer August. It worked out fine - Abby loved TBall and they both made incredible improvements in their swimming. And the summer days always make me feel like I have more time. More so than in winter when I tend to be hibernating by 6pm every day.

Tonight Pat and I sat down to plan the fall schedules. Jake is now old enough to participate in group sports, so he'll have his intro to soccer on Sundays. Abby will be playing Mondays and Thursdays. And then we'll have swimming again on Tuesdays. I'm hesitant to schedule so much, but soccer is only for 6 weeks, so we won't be doubled up for long. It's a tough call parents have to make these days. We want to expose our kids to everything so that they can find something they really like. But with full days in daycare and mom & dad at work, it gets to be a lot.

This scheduling issue is something I think about often. I want my kids to try everything, and I want them to be active. I do wonder how things will change as they get older. I have noticed that there are options earlier in the day. Maybe better for them, but how do working parents handle it? Will we get to the point when we need help? If so, who will help? I'm not sure what we'll be doing in 3 years, but for now my approach is 2 activities max and we'll stop at any time if either kid seems overwhelmed. And we'll take it all a season at a time.