Fall is just around the corner and everyone is getting back into the swing of routines with school, sports practices, dance classes and all the things we sign up for every year in hopes of being a good parent and making more connections with and for our kids. My kids are coming up on ages 3 (twins) and 2, so we aren’t quite in full back to school mode but definitely feeling the push of the season.
I am a planner by nature but ever since I became a mom, I felt like my master planning skills that I had before babies have since escaped me. I am now scheduling time to schedule time. Sounds crazy but the only way I can get everyone’s schedules, to-do’s and needs organized is to actually schedule the time to organize it. I typically function better if everything has a time and place and have learned to ebb and flow with having three toddlers but that certainly doesn’t keep me from trying.
I have found myself signing my kids up for as many things as they are old enough to participate in and still trying to find more to make sure they are getting the interaction and skills that (I think) they need. We live in a world where we have completely overwhelmed and over-programmed ourselves and glorified the art of being “busy”. I am so guilty of this! If I am not busy and overwhelmed, I must be being lazy. This is simply not the truth but such a hard burden to shake off. As I pull out my calendar (because I still HAVE to have a paper calendar in front of me) each Sunday night, I try to plan out our week. I have found on the weeks that we don’t have a lot going on, I still try to plan extra things to do and it usually ends up with me being completely overwhelmed and feeling like I have failed when they don’t get done.
I was speaking with another mom recently who has kids older than mine and has every kind of sports practice to haul her kids to after school until 9pm at night. She is in a completely different season of parenting than I am but the same story pops up…she is scheduling to schedule also! Do we ever find time to let all the things go? When did being so busy become the norm? Do you struggle with this also?
I have struggled coming to terms with all the things we place on our to do lists and on ourselves as parents just may not get done. Adulting by itself is a struggle enough to check off everything but adding kids and their agendas into the mix, and where is the time? No wonder why time flies by so quickly, we can’t even stop for air sometimes! But today and each week, I am making it a point in my “scheduling of the schedule” to write at the top of my list “ALL THE THINGS MAY NOT GET DONE…THAT’S OK!”
After all, the world will keep turning if you don’t scratch that last item off of your list!
