How Do You Find Balance When Child Activities Are So Demanding?

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My 7 year old daughter recently came home asking, “Mom Suzie Q. is doing cheerleading. Can I join too?” She already knows what I’m going to say — that I’ll need to gather the facts and then a decision can be made. Well, I found out the facts. I’m speechless to discover the time commitment. Let’s not even talk about the financial commitment, that’s enough for a whole other blog article. GASP!

The time commitment for a 7 year old to participate in an extra curricular activity is five days a week. Five! I cannot even get myself to the gym five days out of the week, but a little girl will have practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, and then a game on Saturdays. This schedule will run for months, too. Seriously folks, am I the only one who thinks this schedule is wildly out of balance? Having my child rule the family calendar for cheerleading makes my internal alarm set off.

Where does school work fit in? We are crazy if this is not the top priority. When will the family sit at the dining room table together and not run through a fast food establishment? This activity is supposed to promote fitness, yet I would have to feed my family a drive through meal to get her there on time. Yes, I could be prepared and fill a cooler every morning with dinner. I’m already making lunches in the morning; why not add dinner planning too?!

When can mommy and daddy make a date night? The child wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for this first relationship that needs to me maintained and nourished just as much as with the child. The kids need to see us grown-ups put each other first sometimes. They are learning how to be future wives and husbands by watching us.

We all know that annoying narcissistic personality and they are a nightmare to have around. Are we nurturing our adorable little humans to act like future adults with an air of entitlement to whatever comes their way by innocently not setting up boundaries or telling our kids no?
I want what’s best for my kids, too. Just like you, I have the cutest and the smartest kids in the world. We live in a competitive society with an emphasis on individualism, which puts a great deal of pressure on parents to do everything possible for their children.  As a mom, I have already shouldered a great deal of responsibility without having to feel any added pressure to do more.

The meaning of balance is never clearly defined, and absolutely varies depending on differing values, points of view and certainly circumstances. It seems that in most instances, balance turns out to mean giving greater weight to one side or the other – which, in fact, means unbalanced.

I’ve opted out of signing her up for cheerleading and I found something for her to join that’s only once a week. It was cheaper too, but again, that is for another rant– I mean blog post.

Cheers to being mindful when finding balance within the home for the whole family to thrive.