There’s Something to be Said About Kids’ Schedules

It’s official. Our kids have busier lives than we parents do.

Cootiegirl has soccer practice on Mondays and games on Saturdays. Cootieboy has Cub Scouts on Tuesdays. They both have piano on Thursdays. Add in choir for him on Tuesday mornings and newspaper/recycling clubs for her every other week. Then on top of that they each have homework that needs doing every weeknight.  It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

Something had to give, and it was piano lessons. Instead of every week, they now have lessons only twice a month. Once soccer ends, we will not be signing up CG for sports again until spring or possibly even summer.

It’s just too much. It stresses me out having to do something three weeknights a week. I had to stop volunteering at the hospital a couple months ago because the schedule was so crazy once school started back up. Our determination to get the kids in bed by 8 p.m. every night is regularly not met (right now as I type at 8:23 p.m., CG is in the office working on her math homework with Denis because she had her piano lesson earlier, which disrupted her ability to finish her homework).

The schedule wouldn’t be so bad if I was a stay-at-home mom. They’d be home by 3 p.m. and have more than enough time to get their homework done in a timely manner, and eat dinner without having to wolf it down, do whatever activity they have that night, and then go to bed at 8 p.m. like they are supposed to. As we know, that’s not going to happen any time soon (maybe 3-4 years?).

What’s crazy is that it’s possible it’ll only get worse.  I’m determined not to have over-involved kids, and I don’t know that they are at this point (CG has three things – one of which ends in November, CB has three things – one of which ends in December), but I can’t imagine what it’ll be like if they are active teenagers who decide to get involved in school, in sports, in church AND have homework every night.  I need a nap.

All this is really just to say that not a single night this week have I had a normal dinner. Cereal has been my mainstay because by the time we’re done I’m too tired to make food for myself or don’t have the patience to wait for something to cook. And now it’s 8:30 p.m. and I’m off to scavenge and find something other than Boo Berries and Apple Jacks in the pantry.