Sweeping Through Life

As mom's we want our children to have all the experiences they can have in life. Exploring those activities also involves moms being the taxi, the banker and snack machine for them. Not only are we wanting them to explore the activities, we also explore them by participating in the activity, socializing with the other parents or providing the snacks for the team. I really do not think that is the intent of the activity. I know that children need parent involvement, but sometimes it is too much, between work and home. To be honest, at times I want to be that parent who drops the kid off  at the activity and sometimes socializes with the other parents but gets to enjoy 45 minutes of "me" time. At times, that 45 minutes is needed  to refresh especially with the 50 minutes of prep time used to get to the activity. I have thought about limiting the number of activities she participated in, but I have also thought with doing that, that I was limiting her.  I do not want to ...

  Today was first day of swim class. She has been so excited about getting back into the water ever since her swim evaluation about a month ago. Gabrielle loves the water. She practically spent the first  few months of life floating in her Godparents Kelly and Mike's backyard pool. She is definitely a water baby.  During the class, she was trying to be the teacher assistant and she was there to learn with everyone else. She was showing the other students how to kick and her version of dog paddling. I had to forewarn the swim instructor that she was fearless and to watch her. She  jumped off the edge of the pool, she swam to the bottom of the pool, she splashed, she kicked and squealed. She had a good time. Then I thought even though she was having a good time, did she learn anything? She proved me wrong. At the end of the class the instructor showed all the parents what each student learned. He stated that she already knew how to do her paddle arms, but needed to...