De-Busy-Fy Me, Please

I have spent the last several months moaning about how over-scheduled we are.  I weep and groan about having to drag poor Lili out to swimming and gymnastics and whatever else happens to be the obsessed-about activity of the month.  My children don't want to give anything up, but they long for down time.  They put off bedtime so that they can have time to chat and argue with each other and just "be" children, unscheduled children.  Then they are tired in the morning.  Sometimes, as hard as this is to believe, they are grumpy and mouthy to their sweet mama because they are so tired.  I think there has to be a better balance.  I don't want to live like this anymore, and I am the grown up, remember? 

I am the grown-up who happened to completely forget about the fact that I had registered and paid for my two older girls to participate in a gymnastics meet on Saturday.  I am sure the meet happened without us, but we didn't even give it a thought.  We were busy planting flowers, helping Dad dig a big ditch in the back yard and making cupcakes.  I remembered the gymnastics meet this morning as I walked into my exercise class.  Oops.

Perhaps this "oops" was just the wake-up call that I needed.  It was a bumbling nudge reminding me that we are doing TOO MUCH.  Sometimes kids should just come home and ride their bikes.  Sometimes it is just fantastic to flop down on the sofa and watch cartoons after school while your mom cooks a great dinner.    And here is a news flash:  Neither of my daughters are going to grow up to be Olympic gymnasts.  I would much rather they look back on childhood and remember things like  finger painting, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, digging in the dirt and helping mom bake brownies instead of a blurred, endless string of afternoons rushing into the car to head to archery lessons and flugelhorn practice.

This is not the first time I have gotten fired up about downsizing our schedule, but with summer coming, I am resolved to follow through and make some changes.  Less may be more for our family.

Please know that I am not judging you if your little Junior spends every afternoon training for soccer or the world chess tournament.  Every family has to find a balance.  Right now I can feel that our family is NOT in balance, so I need to do some tweaking.  Wish me luck!   There may be a few tears and strops, but I truly believe that more rest and less scheduling will yield happier children in the end.

UPDATE.  My husband just called and convinced me that it is not at all as bad as I have convinced myself.  Yes, we should tweak and consolidate to make our schedule a bit less hectic, but our children are certainly not stressed out and neurotic.  (That's just me.)  Change is a-comin' though...