The Pressures of Parenting

I have been thinking the last few days about parenting and its challenges.  I always preached not overscheduling children, yet I was bad at it.  There were so many things to do and learn, I wanted them to experience it all.  So they played soccer and baseball and basketball, and they took piano lessons, and they did Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and 4-H, and they took a ceramics class . . . . and then they did school activities out the eyeballs, church activities, and once they were old enough KSU football.

When we were home, we always had laundry to do, a house to clean up, practicing and homework, and of course the family dinner, even if it was just Applebee's take-out.  It was always a relief to have a day off - such as MLK day, or even better, a snow day!

And now I find myself asking if I put too much pressure on them, if I didn't give them enough time to play and dream . . . High achievement, though very rewarding, also comes with a price.  I hope my kids will forgive me if I was too demanding, too strict, too intense.  A mother's love knows no bounds, and neither do their good intentions.