I always want my children to have fun and enjoy their days. I take doctors’ urgings that children should engage in at least sixty minutes of physical activity daily very seriously.
In nicer weather, I walk to the park or playground with my children almost daily. Yet, in the winter, the park is covered in snow, and there is barely enough room on the sidewalk or roads to walk. So, how do I keep my children, especially my three-year-old, busy and active while not over-scheduling and over-stimulating them?
As a stay-at-home mom, I took my children to at least one activity daily to keep them active and stimulated. However, as I prepare to renter the workforce next week, I wonder how I will fit in everything and how much we will need to stop doing.
My son loves his gymnastics class through Stratford Recreation, but it is at 9:30 Monday mornings. This will no longer work, so I have looked into different classes for him to take. But they interfere with swimming lessons (we take lessons at Fairfield University and the YMCA). Storytime was a favorite weekly, but now the only ones we can go to are at 6:00 at night, which will ruin our bedtime routine. I want him to play sports, but everything seems to be at the same time as something else, or I have scheduled three activities in a day.
So I need to ask myself (and my husband), when is enough enough? When do I decide to stay home with my children without organized and scheduled events and classes? Am I depriving them of athleticism and creativity if I don’t sign them up for multiple activities?
When I decided to return to work, my husband and I spoke about how the weekends would be family time devoted to being together. Are we still together if I cheer from the sidelines or in the pool with the kids? Or should I treasure this time I have with them when they are so young and save the activities for when they are older?
One thing I know is that swimming lessons will always be a priority.
, when is enough enough? Are we over-scheduling our kids? When do I decide to just stay home with my children without organized and scheduled events and classes? Am I depriving them of athleticism and creativity if I don't sign them up for multiple activities?){kind=link}
I feel the same exact way. I’m a teacher and over the summer we do at least one activity or class per day and it works to keep busy. During the school year my kids are at home in the care of my mom and I have a nanny for part of week. This doesn’t make getting out of the house easy. Right now my almost three year old only takes one gym class per week. Due to this awful weather the rest of the week is spent home playing inside. I feel guilty that he’s bored and I feel stressed to try and fit everything into the weekends. In my heart I know no matter what my kids will be ok, but it’s hard not to question everything!
I look at it this way – my parents were both full time teachers, and had very little time to do stuff during the week when I was growing up. If I was able to take any “classes” they were in the evening, but they were few and far between, so we did things on the weekends (but not every weekend because they were exhausted). I turned out fine, I think. 🙂