The French family video was engrossing. I lived with a French host family who had eight children (all grown and mostly out of the house), and they were lovely and highly efficient people 😄
The extracurriculars thing has been a hard one for me to navigate. I want my children to have free time to be bored and creative. I also want them to have skills that will enrich their life decades on like music or handicrafts--things I wish I had learned more in-depth when I was younger and had the time. And I'd like someone else to teach my kids those things. Yet I don't want to spend too much time in the car or too much money on these things...it's all more complex than I anticipated when I just had a toddler and a baby.
Yes, I am insisting that my kids study music and learn an instrument, because ultimately I feel that is something that you can only learn really well in childhood (my dad taught himself guitar in his 50s and I admire him for it, but it was hard work and I know he wishes he'd had an earlier start). My husband feels it's important that they should do a sport, for various reasons. So... these things add up quickly, financially and time-wise, but I also want to give them opportunities where we can.
Agreed that the extracurriculars are so much more complicated than the internet (read: instagram) leads you to believe (Ahem, pretty much true of all aspects of family life). I definitely thought we'd opt out of activities when I had all little kids just due to the sheer logistics, but I'm seeing the benefit of having a lot of structured time. Also having younger kids really complicates the activities for older children, and I'm having a REALLY hard time navigating this in our current season.
Ah yes, this resonates! There are many things that become more complicated with a toddler/very small kid in the mix... I try to remind myself that this is a fairly short season but man, it can be a challenge!
The French family video was engrossing. I lived with a French host family who had eight children (all grown and mostly out of the house), and they were lovely and highly efficient people 😄
The extracurriculars thing has been a hard one for me to navigate. I want my children to have free time to be bored and creative. I also want them to have skills that will enrich their life decades on like music or handicrafts--things I wish I had learned more in-depth when I was younger and had the time. And I'd like someone else to teach my kids those things. Yet I don't want to spend too much time in the car or too much money on these things...it's all more complex than I anticipated when I just had a toddler and a baby.
Yes, I am insisting that my kids study music and learn an instrument, because ultimately I feel that is something that you can only learn really well in childhood (my dad taught himself guitar in his 50s and I admire him for it, but it was hard work and I know he wishes he'd had an earlier start). My husband feels it's important that they should do a sport, for various reasons. So... these things add up quickly, financially and time-wise, but I also want to give them opportunities where we can.
Agreed that the extracurriculars are so much more complicated than the internet (read: instagram) leads you to believe (Ahem, pretty much true of all aspects of family life). I definitely thought we'd opt out of activities when I had all little kids just due to the sheer logistics, but I'm seeing the benefit of having a lot of structured time. Also having younger kids really complicates the activities for older children, and I'm having a REALLY hard time navigating this in our current season.
Ah yes, this resonates! There are many things that become more complicated with a toddler/very small kid in the mix... I try to remind myself that this is a fairly short season but man, it can be a challenge!