Family 2015

Family 2015

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Wearing the taxi driver hat...

So, I clocked my miles a couple of days ago.  The amount of I drive everyday - just for school drop off and pick up - is 70 miles!!!  I feel like a real commuter now. :)  I remember when all my kids were in preschool or being homeschooled, I would hear moms of school age kids talk about how they were in the "taxi driver" years.  Inwardly, I would think, "I'm sure that's a big of an exaggeration.  I mean how hard can it be??"  Yah, well, that was then.

But, all of this running around inevitably brings up the "more quality family time and less running around" topic.  That seems like such an easy dilemma to fix when all your kids are in diapers.  I can remember thinking (somewhat self-righteously) "I will NEVER allow our family time to be interrupted by extra-curricular activities.  People who do that just don't have their priorities in order."  Agan, that was then.

Back then, I didn't count on the fact that at some point my kids would no longer be happy staying at home and playing Candy Land all day.  I wasn't remembering that at some point they would develop their own interests and want to be involved in activites that could further those.  Silly me.

So, now, it truly is the dance.  I do, with all my heart, believe that family time is important.  But, I also believe that those outside activites are important too.  They help my kids to grow and figure out where their life is taking them  Also, figuring out how to juggle all of this and still place a priority on our family unit has the great fringe benefit of teaching them how to do it too.  They oughta be time managment gurus by the time they leave this house. ;)

So, what are your tricks?  How does your family fit it all in? 

3 comments:

  1. sorry...still in candy land, and enjoying it for now. hold on to your taxi driver hat for me when I get there in a few years! ;)

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  2. With my three kids (7, 7, and 3) we schedule all activities on two days of the week. For us it is Wednesdays and Fridays. Every kid has something on those days, and it takes a lot of juggling. Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights are bath nights. Monday night is my night with absolutely nothing to do other than make dinner, and Saturday night is date night!

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  3. I only have 2 (11 and 13), so I'm sure that my house isn't as chaotic as yours, but I have still worn the taxi driver hat from time to time. We solved the extra-curricular dilema by only letting the kids choose two activities. One individual (they both chose taekwondo and are now black belts) and one team (usually soccer or baseball). There was a bit of running in different directions once in a while, but for the most part it worked pretty good.

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