Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
One of the reasons parents so often look forward to their school-aged children restarting a new school year is because it typically frees up time for that famed adult activity: work. You see, every summer you have to find something for your kids to do during the workday because, while children are all fun and cute and cuddly, they also require a tremendous amount of interpersonal attention, especially during the pre-teen years. You can’t let your 7- or 8-year-olds fend for themselves all day long no matter how independent they are. And if you have kids under 7, forget about it. Their time is your time. I’m actually amazed, at times, at how productive I manage to be with kids throwing balls, fighting and screaming at one another while sitting on a couch … next to each other.
But that productivity also comes with a tremendous amount of anxiety at times. Something ALWAYS feels like it’s getting left in the lurch, not intentionally, but because so much brain power is devoted to ensuring that all of the moving pieces of life are running in concert, perhaps not seamlessly, but functionally and positively. This presents challenges.
Let’s talk about those challenges. Three of my four kids are active in sports. My daughter made her high school’s junior varsity volleyball team where she is now a freshman. My 7- and 8-year-olds just might be soccer prodigies so they’re on teams (if you’ll remember, I mentioned both becoming a volleyball dad and coaching one of my son’s soccer teams) and now we’ve added additional training AND are likely to add another day of soccer practice for the teams. My daughter’s team has at least two games a week and they practice the other three days of the week. This means that there will be kids moving…
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