Having Time to Be

I remember in the summers growing up, my mom tried to keep some semblance of a schedule going for us. Usually, we had a list of chores that needed to be done most days first thing, and then many days, there was an outing ... the commissary or the library. Where we lived for most of my early elementary years, I spent a week or two at the start of every summer in a Gifted enrichment program that I LOVED (how I wished that school could always be like that -- it was probably the first seeds of the idea that turned into homeschooling for me). But mostly, our summers were free.

As we got older, the school years weren't as free. I went to a high school that was an hour commute each way (ironically, they built the new school 2 years after I graduated, just 2 blocks from my bus stop, 10 minutes from my house). Between three of us in different levels of scouts, all of us playing sports, doing volunteer work, theater, etc. ... there just wasn't much down time. My dad was in the Navy, and deployed as often as not in those days (even if not deployed, it wasn't uncommon for him to be on a watch schedule that only let him home 2 days out of 3), so my mom was trying to keep up with all of this more or less as a single mom (complete with bookkeeping and visiting nurse jobs that she'd fit in to school hours). She was stressed, we were stressed. They were trying to make sure that we had every opportunity to learn new things, to explore the world, but often life was just crazy.

I don't think that that experience is that uncommon for my generation, or the generation that we're raising. But I'm not sure that it's my ideal.

A friend has a son who is finishing college now. (Who let him do that? when I 'met' her, he wasn't even a teen yet!) He recently wrote his mom a note. He tutors little kids, and was working with a kindergartener. The poor little guy was just so tired, he was having a hard time focusing, and it struck this young man how lucky he was that his mom had always made sure that he and his brother had had time to play.

Right now (11:00 on Monday morning), my little ones are up in the boys' room, with some elaborate story going. The youngest has done her schoolwork. Her brother hasn't yet, but there will be time later today for that. For now, I'll let them play. He may or may not remember the events of the election of 1824, but he'll definitely remember getting to spend time building a relationship with his sister that I hope will last the rest of their lives.