I am interested in a slower pace of life

[Anonymous]

No one has mentioned this yet so I will .... another thing that makes it hard to resist the pull of All Activities, All the Time (TM) is when your slightly older children have no one to play with.

It was pretty easy to live the slow life when DS was 37 mos old. No child that age truly needs to take a class, and they're only beginning to have true friendships.

When your kids are 7 years old and want to hang with their friends after school, but they cannot (because every single last kid on your block is in soccer, tae kwon do, soccer, piano, soccer, and basketball that day), well, that's hard for them. They -- and you -- feel forced to sign up for soccer just to see another peer.

* and it's a sad truth that as they age, they start to care more about hanging with their peers than cuddling with Mom.

[zumbamama]

OP, why not cut one of the lessons out of the week for starters?

At home lessons are an option, too. Many music teachers travel to people's homes, and lessons are usually only a half hour. That would eliminate the hassle of getting everyone out the door and driving around.

I've also found private swimming instructors that will teach 2 kids for the price of 1 in the same time block, even if they are different levels. They split a 30 minute lesson, and one kid plays while the other one trains. Saves time, $ and running around stress.

I also like to make Saturday SAH day. All I want to do is decompress all day long and not worry about going anywhere. The kids play, draw, read, watch TV, cook, clean and cuddle with me. If I planned Saturday activities I think we'd all be fried...my energy is all gone by Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one has mentioned this yet so I will .... another thing that makes it hard to resist the pull of All Activities, All the Time (TM) is when your slightly older children have no one to play with.

It was pretty easy to live the slow life when DS was 37 mos old. No child that age truly needs to take a class, and they're only beginning to have true friendships.

When your kids are 7 years old and want to hang with their friends after school, but they cannot (because every single last kid on your block is in soccer, tae kwon do, soccer, piano, soccer, and basketball that day), well, that's hard for them. They -- and you -- feel forced to sign up for soccer just to see another peer.

* and it's a sad truth that as they age, they start to care more about hanging with their peers than cuddling with Mom.

Oh - that is sad. My son is only 3.5, and already I feel the "pressure" (you haven't signed him up for soccer, what no weeklong trips planned to Disneyland?). I'll let him do more activities when he is older if interested, but that is kind of sad if he will only be interested because ther will be no one to play with.

[Anonymous]

zumbamama wrote:OP, why not cut one of the lessons out of the week for starters?

At home lessons are an option, too. Many music teachers travel to people's homes, and lessons are usually only a half hour. That would eliminate the hassle of getting everyone out the door and driving around.

I've also found private swimming instructors that will teach 2 kids for the price of 1 in the same time block, even if they are different levels. They split a 30 minute lesson, and one kid plays while the other one trains. Saves time, $ and running around stress.

I also like to make Saturday SAH day. All I want to do is decompress all day long and not worry about going anywhere. The kids play, draw, read, watch TV, cook, clean and cuddle with me. If I planned Saturday activities I think we'd all be fried...my energy is all gone by Friday.

What a great idea. As usual, you are always a ray of positive energy.