Last week I felt that I was continually going between one activity to another. The Daughter had fun but I was exhausted. There was four days in a row of going to one park district to another. I started to question myself if it was too much for a 2 year old. I knew she loved going but by the end of the week, she didn't participate as much as she did in the beginning of the week.
I wanted to expose her to multiple activities and keep her well rounded. Growing up, I only had one activity - Music. I was expected to practice all of my instruments for 30 minutes or more everyday. I wanted her to have experiences outside of just music. It was already decided that she will be taking music lessons with multiple instruments but I also want her to be physically active and be able to express her creative side.
I took advantage that I was home in this summer. I registered The Daughter into 3 sports, 1 dance class, 1 art class, and 1 music class. All of these are at different parts of the summer and days. I know, I'm a little nuts and The Boy got stuck going to everywhere I went. I may have went a little overboard. She seemed to enjoy the activity and she stopped destroying my house. But when is it too much? Any thoughts?
looks like some great experiences - hope you're able to relax as well!
ReplyDeleteIt's too much when you can't handle it anymore. You both need a bit of quiet down time too.
ReplyDeleteOh, I've SO been there!! My kids are very different. My son enjoyed 1 sport at a time, but he was very happy at home to "do his own thing". He didn't watch much tv and was really good at keeping himself entertained. He loved to read, play with his car, airplanes or plastic animals. He would create great battles between whatever plastic "guy" he had on hand. A few times he had two sport at at time and while he did handle it and did well in both, he didn't love it as much. So we went back to one.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter on the other hand... she loved to get out of the house each and every day! She is now 12 and is doing competitive dance and dances over 15 hours a week outside of school. Yes,it's a lot. I'm tired just driving, but she is happy.
I would say that it is "too much" if you or your child starts losing interest and is no longer excited to go. Well, you my lose interest before the child (at least I did!), so I guess if the child is asking not to go, it's too much. If they don't seem to enjoy the activity, it's too much.
I always thought it was really important for the kids to be able to entertain themselves as well. If they can keep themselves happy they will never be lonely!
Good luck... being a mom is exhausting sometimes!! You are doing a good job.