So, it’s time for your babies to pick their extra curricular activities! Your so busy picking out types of youth football equipment or figuring how how to find the right catchers mitt, you haven’t really had a chance to realize how quickly your little ones are growing up. Sure, you’ve Googled ‘how mouthguards help to prevent injuries’ or ‘how football helmet visors prevent injury’ because you don’t want them getting hurt but it’s not until now that you’ve realized your baby is growing up. Or maybe it hasn’t actually hit you yet. Well, after going through the types of youth football equipment he’ll need and making sure everything is in order, it’s going to hit you. Once the pre season business dies away, you’ll look at your kid and wonder where the time has gone. How do you deal with that? Well, one way is to think of some reasons why you should not be sad that they are growing up! Here are some ideas to help you with that.
Quality Time
You can actually spend real time with your kids. It’s not just all about getting them to do what they need to do anymore. Sure, that’s apart of it, but not all of it. Whether its picking out types of youth football equipment or just lounging around the swimming pool, when your kids are older you can have grown up conversations with them and really delve in to who they are becoming as a person. The things that they say will astound you and make you realize you did a pretty good job, considering. Try to enjoy the grown up side of them rather than pining for their baby days. You don’t want to look back and regret missing out on their most important years of change and development.
Less Worry
When your kids are little, you worry about everything. If they climb the jungle gym, you worry that they’ll fall and break something. If they aren’t eating properly, you worry that there is a deeper issue wrong. If they aren’t sleeping well, you worry that their nap times may be out of whack. But, once they grow up they can start communicating with you and telling you if something is wrong or if something needs fixing. You don’t have to hold their hand crossing the street because you taught them to look both ways, you don’t need to stress about leaving the house on time because they can dress themselves; the more independent they become, the less you will have to worry about them.
More You Time
As children become more self sufficient and require less of your constant attention, you’ll find that you have much more time to yourself. You can take naps! Imagine that! You’ll realize you aren’t as tired or burnt out at the end of the day. Pouring your all into these little ones can be exhausting, no matter how much we love it. As they get older and begin to take care of themselves and build friendships with other people, you’ll be able to focus on finding yourself again.
Help in the House
One of the best things about having older kids is that you now have some help around the house. Cleaning and cooking and house chores are much less daunting and dreaded when everyone is involved. You don’t have to worry about them eating the cleaning chemicals and can send them off to clean the bathroom without checking that they aren’t splashing in the toilet bowl every few minutes. Having a chore list helps. Older kids hate chore lists but it helps them to learn responsibility and you can give incentives if you feel that will help. Either way, it won’t be down to you to clean up after everyone anymore.
Date Night
Many couples have said that once their children were older, they felt like they were able to have more time to spend together without feeling guilty. Now is a great time to bring the spark back to the marriage and remember why you are married and get to know your spouse all over again.
So don’t be sad about them growing up, think of the good things while you are picking out types of youth football equipment!
