Unscheduled and Unplugged

I don’t know about all of you, but I have found…this year more than ever…that our “down time” is fairly nonexistent.  We leave home at 7:15 to get to work/school and most days the boys and I aren’t home until 5:00.  Hockey was 5 days a week from October to almost April and now there’s baseball, t-ball, and some flag football.  Throw in some meetings, appointments, errands, etc. and we are out straight.  When we get home it is a somewhat mad rush to tackle dinner, showers, guitar practice, and packing the necessities for the next day (I am thankful every day that they don’t have “real” homework yet).  If there was a moment to spare the boys’ “go to” for most of the winter had been to grab their iPads or some zombie time in front of the TV.  I’d be lying if I said that I minded.  Facts are that I needed time to get things done and they’re incredibly active all week long…so I did’t fret when they stole those moments of screen time at all!  As the weather got nicer, however, I started to cringe a bit when they would hunker down, iPads in hand, to zone out.

So….I couldn’t have been happier to come home from a run the other night and see them playing an ever so simple, and full of giggles, game of hopscotch with the neighbors.  I sat on the curb to watch…and once I overcame my embarrassment that they had somehow made it to “almost 6” and “almost 8” years-old without ever having played before….I took a few minutes to appreciate the moment.

Warmer weather has brought more hopscotch, bike riding, and some serious games of catch!