How I Unintentionally Marsha Brady-d My Son

Do you remember this episode of the Brady bunch? Marsha is a freshman, and in her rush to do high school right and fit in she signs up for every single club. She ends up overextended, stressed out, and doing a lot of stuff she really didn't want to do.

Well, I inadvertently did the same this to Tate this fall. A lot of his other 3-year-old friends started preschool, but he didn't seem totally ready back at application time, wasn't potty trained, plus did you know preschool in Chicago costs like a bazillion dollars? So with the words of warning from other mothers echoing in my ears---he'd be behind if he doesn't start preschool at 3! what about socialization?--I overscheduled the hell out of him.


This fall I signed him up for Mom and Tot Yoga, a Mom, Pops, and Tots playgroup, a church playgroup, Tumbling, and Soccer. Are you tired yet? We are. I didn't realize how much until we were both sick this week and the park district didn't have classes that I normally would have dragged him to even with his cough.

So this week I parented low-key 1970s style. We wore our pajamas all day. We cuddled on the couch. We broke out the watercolors. We played hide-and-seek and made forts. We watched way too much TV. We drank (gasp) juice. I even caught up on low-priority items on my to-do list, like balancing our checkbook, scheduling an eye doctor appt. I was due for in May, and figuring out what happened to an old 401k. And it was awesome, mostly because I let go of the guilt I felt--to get him outside every day, limit screen time, to have tons of interaction with other kids, and to work on his gross motor skills--and just gave us permission to just be. Don't get me wrong, I still think all of that stuff is important, but as Marcia learned, it's all about balance. That and if your brother's volcano spews mud all over everyone you want to be hanging out with the kind of people who will laugh about it.