Our family loves to do a lot of activities. Our daughter has her favorites, my husband has his, and I love being part of it all. It can be tricky but here’s how we try to strike a balance:
1. One big thing per season
We let each family member choose one priority activity. That way, everyone gets something they love, but our evenings aren’t swallowed whole.
2. Guard the calendar like a treasure map
If we see more than three nights a week filling up, we pause. That’s our red flag. It doesn’t matter how good the opportunity looks, if it eats up too much of our time we pass.
3. Family time counts as an activity
We treat dinner at the table, movie night, or just hanging out in the backyard like an activity that belongs on the schedule. If we don’t mark it down, it’s too easy to push aside.
4. Say no without guilt
As a born people pleaser this one took me a while. I’ve learned that a “no” to one thing is really a “yes” to something else. Saying no means saying yes to rest, family, creativity, and sometimes sanity.
At the end of the day, I want our daughter to remember her childhood not as a blur of practices and performances, but as a time when she had room to dream, play, and sit down to dinner with us. All the trophies and medals in the world can’t replace the quiet, ordinary moments that make family life rich.
So this fall, as the flyers and sign-up sheets pour in, we’ll be saying yes, but not to everything. The beauty of balance is that it leaves space for the good stuff and the moments that really matter.
Pamela Chandler is a local mom who writes the Gem City Family column for the Dayton Daily News. Reach out to her at thechandlercrew3@gmail.com.
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