Back In The Day

*Warning I am tired, and I am about to “date” myself.  Feel free to nod along!

Piano Lessons, exams and recitals

Dance (Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, Jumps and Turns and Acro classes)

Swimming Lessons

Synchronized Swimming

Gymnastics: up to 16 hours per week before she retired and moved onto:

Cheer

Volleyball

Skating

Choir

Band

*Many of these activities?  For both girls, each and every week. 

These are just a few of the things that have kept my girls hopping over the past couple of years.  I sometimes feel as if we live and eat most meals in my car.  The remarkable thing, we have friends who “put us to shame”. With daughters who do all of this plus so much more!  Extra tutor’s, Chinese School, Greek School, competitive soccer and baseball.  Theatre classes and camps.  Singing lessons galore.  Every second of every day accounted for.  Exhausting. 

If we take a quick ride on the way back machine, my extra curricular activity over the course of my entire life looked a like this:

Brownies

Swimming Lessons

Volunteering at the local hospital once a week

I think that’s it?  I played some High School Sports too. 

We did spend every weekend at the cottage, but that sure wasn’t structured.

I could drive a boat, fish and water ski better than any boy I knew, and I was pretty proud of that, but didn’t have to take a “class” to achieve those bragging rights. 

Here’s the thing.  I was busy, I had fun.  I certainly didn’t feel like I was missing anything.  As a matter of fact I kind of felt spoiled.  So here’s my question.  At what point did our society decide we had to also go Go GO!  That our babies must have the chance to try everything, do everything be everywhere?  That this is the key to success in the suburbs.  When do our kids get downtime to just….be? 

What side of the coin does your family fall on?  Do your kids have a lot of down time, or are you living and dying by the calendar like I am?  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.