My husband and I were able to go to dinner (just the two of us)! Thanks to Grammy for watching ALL the kids for a couple of hours.
So we were able to have an uninterrupted conversation. We talked about religion, politics, stresses and then we came back around to talking about kids…again.
We love our children and they are such a huge part of our life together that it’s a natural progression for us to discuss them. Usually we talk about terribly stimulating topics, like who last used the potty, which kid grabbed which kid by the shirt and threw them to the ground in a crying heap, who had a meltdown because they couldn’t get their shoes put on RIGHT THEN.
Tonight, however, we branched out and started to talk about how it seems that sometimes parents tend to treat their children like they are little gods and goddesses. They spend so much time and money and attention on their children’s sports, hobbies, desires, etc.
I just found out last summer that people actually pay money for their 6 year olds to have professional, private coaching sessions to improve their baseball skills. Like a lot of money, hundreds of dollars, so junior can pitch or hit or whatever better.
Whole families sacrifice time to eat dinner together or hang out in their backyard and play because they are running to 4 or 5 nights of practices or rehearsals.
Parents work overtime and extra jobs so that they can have nicer things for their kids.
And it’s so tempting to want to do that, isn’t it? We love them so much and want them to have “the best” clothes, education, experiences. Chris and I just signed 3 of our 5 kids up for baseball and softball. We know we will be running around like crazy in April and May. Our kids will enjoy it and we will, too.
The hard thing is maintaining a balance. Helping ourselves and our kids to see that while we want to spend money and time on them, that they are just one person.
And whether kids are in a big family or only children, we can’t put them on a pedestal and have our lives revolve around them. We can’t make our children into our god.
You shall have no other gods before Me. – Deuteronomy 5:7
All the Little Grubbs 
You definitely have to fight for balance in this area. It's so easy to look at others and wonder if you should be doing all that they're doing and if your kids are missing out. Then, get overwelmed at all the activities you are involved in-all that little stuff adds up. I think praying about our activities to see what God thinks is important for our kids and our family is where we need to start. Thanks for sharing this and thanks for letting me share this quite lengthy comment. 🙂
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I agree that starting with prayer can help you keep things in perspective. We try to think back to when we were kids also. I know I took piano for 3 or 4 years as a child but because I didn't have the desire to continue, I don't remember any of it!
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