Can you just be? I cannot.

I find myself addicted to busy. Busy cleaning, writing, driving, cooking, rearing, listening, doing this and attending that. Feeling that if I’m not busy or don’t have slots of time scheduled with activities for my kids that we are losing at the game of life.

Go Mom Go. Go Kids Go.

Striving to keep up with the Busy Joneses. It’s a do more, be more society. A way to show our culture standing and how we are grooming our kids with organized sports, dance and even scheduled story times to read a book in order to be the best. What happened to playing ball with your friends, dancing with your mom or reading a good book into the wee hours of the night?

Go Mom Go. Go Kids Go.

Now here we are a generation of parents that grew up in the 80’s and 90’s when both parents worked and schedules began to fill with extracurricular activities that even now we are asked as adults, “What did YOU DO when you were younger?” Um, what did I do? I was a kid, I played, I imagined. Now I see my four year old being asked the same question, as if his identity as merely, BRAXTON, with all his unique thoughts and feelings, wasn’t enough and I wasn’t being mom enough if I wasn’t filling his calendar.

Go Kids Go. Go Mom Go.

Now we as parents are hit with a double whammy, the pressure of extracurricular activities and ever-nagging technology. The little down time that we as mommies have for reflection and peace has been taken over by the sexiness of the Smartphone and all the useless information and time eating it holds. Slammed day in and day out with Facebook feeds of the events and check-ins of others. Emails reminding us of ten different Christmas tree lightings, articles about a million breakfasts with Santas, Evites for endless cookie exchanges and Pinterest notifications on pins “they” thought we would like to fill our time. It isn’t about what we HAVE but even more about are we DOING enough to keep up with the Busy Joneses?

Go Mom Go. Go Kids Go.

Recently I felt like a failure because I screwed up on an open play time and missed a scheduled story time. How bad had I screwed up? According to my online mommies friends … not at all. One virtual friend put it perfectly when she said, “I hate the running. I long for moments to actually just be with my kids and enjoy them being little people. If it works for your family (I know it doesn’t “feel” good to everyone), stay home. Let them enjoy free play. Snuggle, read books, get things done while they figure out how to play together. It’s important for them to have boredom and freedom to help them learn imagination and creativity. There is plenty of time in their lives to run them everywhere..”

Stop mom Stop. Stop Kids Stop.

When I stripped away activities that were just busyness verses what I really valued and gave me purpose I experienced a different kind of day. I felt more fulfilled, spending more one on one time with my little ones. Learning about myself as a mom and even more about the individuals my kids were growing into and not the “activities” they are. Of course years will come when they will be busy and too grown to sit on my lap while they touch my hair and kiss my face. But for now, while they are young, and schedules are for naps and play … Stop Mom Stop. Stop Kids Stop and ENJOY.