Dear Ali, I love your ideas for creating margins for your kids and family. I did much the same when mine were in that age range... not as intentionally as you- more so because I knew how much I hated running from one thing to the next with 3 kids. But the effect was the same, thankfully! The kids all went to the Montessori school where there was no homework, and they would spend their after-school hours with nearby friends or just the 3 of them together. Oh, we have so many funny videos and photos from those times! Just so much creativity... generated quite often from being bored. :) I think parents these days have it much harder because there's more pressure for your kid to be "great" at something by the time they're 10, and so many more devices to say no to. We only had to turn off the TV.
Thank you for writing so thoughtfully on this... I can feel the collective sigh of relief in this space. Bless you, Ali!
Thank you Rebecca for the note of encouragement and for sharing about your experiences! It is nice to hear I am not alone in approaching these things and hope to at least raise the conversation for parents to think about. Not easy to navigate, especially in today’s world, as you said!
Dear Ali, I love your ideas for creating margins for your kids and family. I did much the same when mine were in that age range... not as intentionally as you- more so because I knew how much I hated running from one thing to the next with 3 kids. But the effect was the same, thankfully! The kids all went to the Montessori school where there was no homework, and they would spend their after-school hours with nearby friends or just the 3 of them together. Oh, we have so many funny videos and photos from those times! Just so much creativity... generated quite often from being bored. :) I think parents these days have it much harder because there's more pressure for your kid to be "great" at something by the time they're 10, and so many more devices to say no to. We only had to turn off the TV.
Thank you for writing so thoughtfully on this... I can feel the collective sigh of relief in this space. Bless you, Ali!
Thank you Rebecca for the note of encouragement and for sharing about your experiences! It is nice to hear I am not alone in approaching these things and hope to at least raise the conversation for parents to think about. Not easy to navigate, especially in today’s world, as you said!
Hi Ali! Loved the “I’m bored…wait 15min" tip! So true, so unspoken of.
Hi Peter! Thank you for your note and glad to be connected here!