Striving for Simplicity: Part 2

Click here for previous striving for simplicity post.

We have all heard the old cliché of how fast life goes and how our children grow up in the blink of an eye. This is really hard to grasp when you are in the midst of parenthood, but it’s true. I am witnessing it right now. Why are we rushing our kids through childhood?

Childhood should be about unstructured play; the time to create, explore and discover. When does this happen?

I think I am especially feeling the pull as I have a first grader, with friends becoming a priority, another daughter that thinks so uniquely that I am fearful of all day kindergarten, and my little guy that still screams his head off from the separation of taking him to the church nursery (but inside I know that before long...he won't mind going and that will probably hurt me more then it ever hurt him to begin with).

This Fall, we have made some adjustments toward getting back to the basics and it has slowed down life a little. We continue to have our Family Fun Night four times a month. It is something that we all look forward to and has been a very easy and inexpensive thing to implement.

We also started going to church and Sunday School on Saturdays. Nothing beats our Sunday mornings of not rushing around, making a big breakfast, drinking my coffee, reading the Sunday paper and the kids playing happily in their pajamas. Ahh…peace. There is nothing else like this.

We also stopped getting the daily paper. This may seem like something small, but it got to be "something else to take care of." It would lay on the table unread all day except for a quick headline skim. Finally at night after the kids went to bed, I would get the chance to look at the almost day old news. Dave had been reading it online anyway and we both agreed that the whole Register had declined with so many articles were taken from other newspapers or from online comments (especially in their Iowa Life section). Of course we still get the Sunday register, which is the best paper day anyway. It has been three weeks and except for the initial shock of not having it after 10 years and being able to see our dining room table, it hasn't been missed.

Adjustments can be made big or small. Life is short.