Keeping up with all the activities that go on after school is not easy for many parents. If you work a full time job it can be even more difficult. A working mom is essentially holding down two full time jobs, and balancing between the two can often lead to stress.
If you have more than one child it is important to decide what activities are important and what is really necessary. While it is important for kids to be involved, it is also important to have down time both for kids and for parents. So choose activities wisely and possibly limit them to one or two per season.
Before signing a child up for an activity look into the time that will be required. As kids get older, sports tend to take up more time with practices at least once or twice a week, and them games at least once on the weekend if not more. Other non-sport activities may only be once a week for the most part, but then have other requirements on weekends.
To organize everyone’s activities it can be helpful to get a large calendar. You can color code the members of the family to make it easy to see who has what activities on what days. You may also want to check into what days and times activities will fall on before signing a child up. It is usually impossible to get two kids to different places at the same time. Make sure you don’t run into a scheduling conflict unless you can find help.
It is not easy to juggle a job, kids and their activities, and life at home, but it can be done. To help keep the stress to a minimum make sure you are organized. The benefits of being involved are worth it for the kids, and there is nothing like watching your child play in that big game!
