5  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

Is anyone else out there struggling just to keep your head above water? Lately, it seems that no matter how hard I try, I am sinking! Between my job and my kids' activities, as well as a few of my own, sometimes I catch myself starting to hyperventilate - rather literally. We all walk around preaching, "Less is more," but let's face it: every day, we are confronted with role models and mass marketing in society that teach us that "MORE is MORE". A few examples...

1. The catalogs that arrive in the mail each day, showing off the perfect homes with all of their perfect accoutrements. And don't even get me started on the ones that show off the perfect kids' rooms. Whose child's room looks like that?! I'd be willing to bet that even the ill-advised parent who spends the kind of cash that it would require on a room of that caliber can't possibly get the child to keep the room looking anything like the one in the catalog. And if that parent's child's room does look that way, I have two thoughts for you: servants or mothers with way too much time on their hands...neither of which are close to the reality that the child will inevitably have to face.
2. The fact that if your child is not on a "club team" by the time he or she is in 6th grade, there is a very good chance that high school sports are already out of the question. There is something wrong with this picture. What happened to kids learning to play a sport for the love of the sport -- and for the interaction with the other kids -- and for the exercise? What happened to just playing outside after school? Why do we have to get so competitive so young?
3. The schools that , while we respect the overall education that our children are receiving, are sending home an average of 2 plus hours of homework per night for a middle schooler and 3 or more for a high school student. Again I ask, where's the time for being a kid?
4. The scads of credit card offers we all receive in the mail on an almost daily basis. And for what? So that people in our country can go even deeper into debt, espousing the American dream?

Ugh! Sorry. This turned into a bit of a rant. I guess I'm tired of the excess. Time to scale back. Take stock. Re-evaluate our priorities. If not now, then when?

Sign me,

Turning Over a New Leaf