The simple life, we didn't know we needed!
I remember I was about 9 or 10 years old and I felt completely overwhelmed by extra-curriculars. Sundays were Church/Sunday school, Tuesday night Girl Scouts, drama club met many times through the week and Saturday mornings were either filled with ballet class or skating practice depending on the season. Heck, even my extra curriculars had extra curriculars! Church had special events, Sunday school put on plays and other activities for the congregation, girl scouts wanted you to sell cookies, school wanted you to sell various items for fundraising, drama club had it’s performances, ballet had extra group rehearsals and recitals and skating needed extra practices (mainly because I hated it and wasn't very good at it). Oh, and I also took swimming lessons after school and throughout the summer! I have no idea how I fit those in.
I was constantly struggling with my schoolwork and life at home was anything but easy, so all these activities were simply exhausting!
I quit skating first, because I knew jumps were coming up in the next level and I was terrified to even try. I enjoyed Girl Scouts, but I didn’t participate much outside of the weekly meetings and my cookie sales dropped drastically. Ballet and swimming lasted through my first year of high school. I stopped going to Sunday School around the same time but I joined their youth group which met up once every couple of weeks or so on Friday evenings. Drama I stuck with through college!
This is why I register our LO for one activity a season and no more! I didn’t even want to do any activities until she was older, but she needed to learn how to swim since we have a pool, and then because of my surgery I knew I wouldn’t be able to swim with her for a few months so I registered her for Sportball (which she hated so we quit). I see people around me racing off to various activities night after night, kid after kid, and they don’t even have time to sit down for a family meal once a week at times! It’s crazy!
And now, while everyone is quarantined… extra curricular activities are over. Our daily lives as we knew them are over. It’s temporary, sure, but maybe there is something to learn from all this. Being cooped up together 7 days a week is overkill, but maybe family dinners will become more meaningful. Maybe running out to activities 3, 4, or 5 nights a week will be a thing of the past. Maybe Saturday morning cartoons will make a comeback. Pajama days as a family. A walk around the neighborhood. Playing at the park. A bike ride. Things everyone can enjoy together!
A couple of weeks ago we were outside from 10am till 5:30 pm. We cleaned up the yard, took down the tempo. Cleaned all the renovation sawdust off our driveway, played with chalk, made a rock collection, shoveled dirt from here to there, and chatted with neighbors (at a respectable Covid-19 distance). We didn’t need a coach, an instructor, a leader or anyone else to guide us. We just enjoyed the nice weather and time outside of our home. Together.
And now I have to decide if I am going to keep her registered for Soccer this summer, or get a refund before everything is likely cancelled anyway.
I was constantly struggling with my schoolwork and life at home was anything but easy, so all these activities were simply exhausting!
I quit skating first, because I knew jumps were coming up in the next level and I was terrified to even try. I enjoyed Girl Scouts, but I didn’t participate much outside of the weekly meetings and my cookie sales dropped drastically. Ballet and swimming lasted through my first year of high school. I stopped going to Sunday School around the same time but I joined their youth group which met up once every couple of weeks or so on Friday evenings. Drama I stuck with through college!
This is why I register our LO for one activity a season and no more! I didn’t even want to do any activities until she was older, but she needed to learn how to swim since we have a pool, and then because of my surgery I knew I wouldn’t be able to swim with her for a few months so I registered her for Sportball (which she hated so we quit). I see people around me racing off to various activities night after night, kid after kid, and they don’t even have time to sit down for a family meal once a week at times! It’s crazy!
And now, while everyone is quarantined… extra curricular activities are over. Our daily lives as we knew them are over. It’s temporary, sure, but maybe there is something to learn from all this. Being cooped up together 7 days a week is overkill, but maybe family dinners will become more meaningful. Maybe running out to activities 3, 4, or 5 nights a week will be a thing of the past. Maybe Saturday morning cartoons will make a comeback. Pajama days as a family. A walk around the neighborhood. Playing at the park. A bike ride. Things everyone can enjoy together!
A couple of weeks ago we were outside from 10am till 5:30 pm. We cleaned up the yard, took down the tempo. Cleaned all the renovation sawdust off our driveway, played with chalk, made a rock collection, shoveled dirt from here to there, and chatted with neighbors (at a respectable Covid-19 distance). We didn’t need a coach, an instructor, a leader or anyone else to guide us. We just enjoyed the nice weather and time outside of our home. Together.
And now I have to decide if I am going to keep her registered for Soccer this summer, or get a refund before everything is likely cancelled anyway.
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