A Lesson In Saying No

The kiddo was just invited to a Cub Scouts recruiting night.  Wow.  This business is getting serious mmkay....Recruiting Night?!?  Yowsers.

I told the over eager (and perfectly nice) Cub Scout leader that we would love to attend but that we were still working out our Fall schedule so couldn't commit to any actual JOINING of the Cub Scouts yet.

Then, I tried to explain this to the kiddo.

He simply doesn't understand why we can't do it all.  So I'll be honest with you all and say that one of the MANY reasons why we have one child is so that we can do more.  We are teaching a whole child in our house mmkay and you'll hear me speak on occasion about child-led learning.  This is it.  This is what it looks like.  When the kiddo has an interest, a passion, a hobby- we follow it.  By having one child, we have more money available to us to pursue these interests and we have more time.  Yes, I know it can be done in larger families.  I know.  But when we started out, the husband and I knew that we BOTH wanted to be at his soccer games, parties, belt ceremony's, classes etc.  Basically, we didn't want to play the child shuffle.  If both your kids have games on the same day at the exact same time, this is what inevitably happens.  One parent goes with one kid, while the other parent gets the second child.  I don't even know how people with more then 2 kids do it.  Seriously- you're miracle workers mmkay!  By the grace of God.....

So yes, back to it then.  We have one child because this allows us the opportunity to explore ALL of his interests.  But what happens when your kid whats to do it all?

Well...sometimes you simply have to say NO.

The schedule for this Fall isn't out yet, (not too worry, I'll update here when it it!) but let me just list the all the wonderful and fun things we are trying to pick and choose between.  Those in bold, are already on the books!  The rest is what we call, our Wish List.

• Research & Report Writing Class
• YMCA Swim & Gym
• Art Class
• Spanish Lessons
• Soccer- 4 hours weekly
• Lego Challenge Class
• Literature Class *focusing on fairy tales, fables & myths
• Science You Can Eat Class
• Karate
• Math Booster Class for 4th-6th
• Robotics & Pre-Engineering TEKnology Classes
• Flag Football
• Cub Scouts

At this point, I want to make sure that we have a balanced schedule.  Family's need time to just be family's, to sit at the dinner table, to go see movies- to simply BE together. Sometimes we need to just slow down a bit and say- NO.  I for one, have no problem saying NO.  I'm a Mom, it's in my DNA.

However, before saying no, we will sit down together as a family and go over the current schedule as well as any new additions.  We will make sure to leave time for us, allow for quiet evenings at home with no planned activities and make sure that the kiddo is completely committed before signing up.  We have a few "non-negotiables" like Spanish and Karate but for the most part, we allow the kiddo to lead.

We will make every effort to do everything on the kiddo's list.  But sometimes, sometimes it's OK to just say NO.  Not this time.  Maybe next year.  How about in the Spring?  Figure out your kid's priorities and yours as a family and then work from there.  You might find that you have many things that you both want to do or accomplish and others that you are comfortable putting on the back burner for another time.

This is what works for our family.  We want the kiddo to be able to experience as much as possible.  We want him to follow his passions, to learn in a creative environment and most importantly- to have fun.  This is a true education.