Juggling Your Busy Family's Schedule

Today on the Morning Show, I shared that my kids are all wanting to add some extra-curricular activities to our already busy schedule. My concern is that we do not have enough time or money to take more activities on. Lots of people called with great advice, but I really loved what Pamela from Salisbury had to say in an email message. Here is her advice:

"Tami, I have 4 kids and we are a one-income family. Right now, each are in Royal Rangers, the older 2 specifically in Frontiers Camping Fellowship within RR. One takes guitar lessons, and is looking to take an after-school sport. The other is playing football and has practice almost everyday after school, games on Saturday. In the spring, we had 3 involved in baseball and practically LIVED at the baseball fields. Financially, we can’t be involved in everything, so we ask the older 2 to pick which RR events they would rather go to.

Timewise, I was thinking/praying about this very subject last week. And the thought that came was that of a juggler. I really felt like my life right now is a juggling act, trying to get all the kids to and from school (I have 4 of them in 3 different schools), homework, meals, housework, afterschool activities, grocery shopping, church, etc. I was going through the motions of a juggler – they can’t focus on one ball for any great length of time or all the others fall. They are very precise and have to judge how much they can have in the air at one time. They probably all started with only 2 or 3 balls and added more as they could handle the original 2 or 3 well. They fail and they practice. They look ahead and try to keep all balls in their view. I guess what I saw in this for me was that juggling my family’s schedule has got to take planning, not just flying by the seat of my pants. I need to start with a few items in my schedule and only add other items as I see we can “juggle” them in. I’m going to fail, but need to keep trying. I need to look ahead to the future and what this is going to provide for my children. Will they appreciate the experience even if it doesn’t flourish into a career? Or will they resent that we were too busy? I also need to not focus on one child’s activity more than another.

And one more thing I forgot, when you add another juggler in and share the load, it’s lighter. My hubby is a HUGE help (and I’m sure yours is also).

This may not have been exactly what you were looking for, but because I just had this thought last week and have been pondering it and praying on it, I thought I’d share it."

Thanks Pamela!