So, Madeleine is 6 years old and in first grade. I thought that when signing my children up for activities one would be enough, but then this happened:
today - October 6, 2010
3 pm - pick up Madeleine from school and take her to Daisy Girl Scouts meeting
4:30 pm - pick up Madeleine from Daisy Girl Scouts and take her home where she eats an early dinner, practices her piano songs, and gets into her soccer uniform
5:25 pm - leave for piano lesson
6:00 pm - finish piano lesson and race to soccer field where the game started at 6 pm
Madeleine missed the first quarter of the game, but I am still sort of in shock as to how this happened. All of the things that she does are good and I do not know how to stop. We signed up for soccer last spring and that was her one thing. I wasn't sure that she would play this year, but all of the teams that were good had been together for over a year and played each fall and each spring. This enabled them to become really good at the sport and they were really good friends as well. So, we couldn't stop soccer, and besides Madeleine really liked it! So, we signed up to play again this fall.
Then, the opportunity to be a part of Daisy Girl Scouts came up. They meet on the first Wednesday of the month, so the time commitment is not too great, but again I anticipate Madeleine being in girl scouts for the foreseeable future.
I had called the neighborhood piano teacher this August and we were put on the waiting list. I was anticipating her starting in 2nd grade, but then an opening became available and Madeleine has gone for 30 minutes each week for a month now and she is really learning. I am seriously amazed. So, I hope that she keeps taking piano lessons.
There are things that Madeleine wants to do but I have said that we do not have time right now. Good things like gymnastics, but she is already involved in three things! And I want to get Everett started in swimming lessons... Seriously, how do parents figure this all out? How do you decide how many activities are too many? How do you do this many activities with multiple children? What if Everett was on a soccer team too and in cub scouts and taking piano lessons? AHHH!
I attended the funeral Monday of one of my neighborhood book club ladies. Roberta was 90! and lived an amazing life, and as we in the congregation sang "In the Garden" I was struck by the refrain. Here is the entire song:
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain
And He walks with me and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
Refrain
And He walks with me and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
I'd stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
I am preaching this Sunday for Children's Sunday at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church and my sermon title is, "Whatever happened to tarrying?"
How much is too much? And how do you prevent it from becoming too much?
1 comment:
Kerry, I have no doubt you are an amazing mom, and the time comes when your time becomes your childrens' time, as I have lived. The things that bring them joy bring you joy, and enough is enough when they say, not when you say. The piano is a lifelong skill, the soccer is physical, the scouts program teaches life skills, plus social learning. All things that she learns are food for the soul. Both kids will learn from you each step of the way, and too soon, way too soon, you will find that they have grown and are done with the lessons. Dinner time can be a peanut butter sandwich on a blanket at practice, and can be as important as the meat and potatoes at the table. It's the time you spend with them, the times they cherish. If they enjoy it, keep on, and cherish it. What is important in their lives is that you are a part of it. Cam is graduating this year and I cannot tell you how much I miss sitting in the bleachers watching him at first base. It was a time that I was there for his benefit, totally, and it goes too quickly. Peace and grace be with you!
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