Protecting Family Day

Last year at this time, the boys were swimming on Saturday morning and then I would shuttle BB off to gymnastics right after.  Then we picked up Tae Kwon Do and added that to the routine.  C and I were exhausted shuttling BB and DD around, and entertaining the kid that didn't have class at the time.  (Yeah, the classes don't occur simultaneously.  If we were lucky, they'd be back to back.)  Then there were the birthday parties.  At the height of the mayhem, I decided to institute Family Day.

Family Day, with a few exceptions, is just that - a free range day where the four of us spend time together, preferably outdoors.  There are no classes on Family Day.  We only make exceptions for special occasions.  Many of my parent friends hear about our Family Day and are envious; a good policy they say.  But, of course, there is always a tension.  Like having no time for lessons and classes.  We've given up on Tae Kwon Do and gymnastics for now.  We aren't taking up art or music lessons.  Our new interest, ice-skating, probably won't be able to involve lessons of any kind.  There are sacrifices.

But I'm okay with that for now.  BB and DD are young and a strong family foundation is more important to me than structured lessons for a dozen activities.  I know that at some point in the future, Family Day will have to give way to friends and activities.  Hey, it's already been 3 weeks since our last Family Day.  For right now, I'm protecting it.