I am currently all of these things!
In my defense, I have to drive a minivan - we have 3 children. Further, I feel completely justified reading "Twilight" (and its series sisters "New Moon", "Eclipse", and "Breaking Dawn"). They are excellent books!
I had a moment's trouble with the title "Soccer Mom" though. I find no fault with soccer, nor with me driving my child to and from practice/games. With the addition of soccer however, came the realization that my family was officially over-programmed. We have some sort of activity almost every single day! Including weekends!
My advice to myself and to you - embrace the chaos of an overprogrammed- life!
We have so many things going on that are GOOD, that we don't really have time for much that is what I like to call "the UNgood".
"Ungood" vs. "bad"
Ungood - sitting on the couch for hours, watching too much TV, playing too many video games, and eating too much from sheer boredom. Behaviors that are undesirable, but not dangerous in any obvious way.
Bad - drugs, underage drinking, stealing, smoking, fighting, etc.
I hope our overprogrammed life is protecting from both the ungood and the bad. I hope having my daughter at ballet 3 times a week will keep her from becoming a couch potato queen and will fill her with grace and strength. I hope my son burns some energy on his soccer field and gains skills and friendships through Boy Scouts. Even the baby can learn support for family by being our captive prisoner as we travel from activity to activity - and occasionally he even gets an activity of his own!
We've added charity walks - showing our children that we are a family who cares about other people (and fitness!). We've added NFL and NCAA football games - which will get us out of the house and which we will enjoy as a family. And we've added out-of-state travel to meet our new nephew...and show our children the importance of knowing and supporting family. We've even started being regular attendees at church, hopefully giving our children a sense of community and faith in something larger than themselves. Everything we've added to make our lives a hectic mess is also simultaneously making us better people - stronger, kinder, more interesting people.
Yes, I do get tired of driving all the time to activities that hold no personal interest for me. My cooking some days makes Hamburger Helper look like gourmet cuisine. The cleanliness of my home might make Martha Stewart elect to go back to prison.
But I leave you with this question:
Would you rather have a neat home and a predictable, but possibly boring, existence?
OR interesting and productive chaos?
As for me - I'm trying to find a balance between the two. It will have to wait until next year though. We're all booked.
