I didn't make him take the class. It was a dance class, actually a breakdancing class, taught by a man and composed of mostly male students (something The Boy had been asking for since he was the only boy in his ballet class 2 years ago). I was, I will admit, a little overly proud of myself for having found the class (finally) and though it was wildly inconvenient in terms of time and location, I really liked the parents I chatted with during the trial. Which is rare for me.
Alas.
We are currently making The Boy take soccer--something he said he wanted to do when we signed him up last spring--and I didn't feel I had it in me to enforce 2 activities. But I'm hoping to revisit the issue when soccer ends in a few weeks.
Because also? He really likes to dance.
I'm impressed by those of you who don't have a hard time getting their kids to be physically active. The Boy is home from school (where he has gym twice a week) around 3:15, and by the time we have snack and do homework, it's at least 4-4:30. Ideally, that's when I'd be starting dinner prep (we try to eat around 6). If we don't have an activity planned, it's far to easy for everyone--including me--to just hang about inside. Yes, sometimes we go to the playground, and sometimes we ride bikes, but a scheduled activity is a nice crutch to have a few times a week.
*****
The Girl, by the way, does not have Lyme disease. She had no symptoms except a series of bulls-eye type rashes this summer. We never found a tick on her, but there are tick-infested deer all over the place. She was treated prophylactically with amoxicillin and we dutifully reported to have her blood drawn a few weeks later.
The Girl does, however, have low iron stores (a serum ferritin level of 13 ng/mL), which is sometimes tied to the kind of sleep issues she's been having. We've been supplementing her iron for about 3 weeks, and we haven't seen a change. Fingers crossed. Mama's so very tired.
Our #1 time of day for physical activity in 1st grade is walking to school (about a half mile) and home from school, but before we leave after school, a group of 3-6 kids play on the playground for 5-45 minutes, and they often just run flat out the whole time. School lets out at 3:30, snack is eaten while walking home, so home at around 4:30.
On days when I am home, dinner prep is done during the afternoon nap time. Then I feel like a chef on TV putting all my bowls and containers of pre-chopped and seasoned foods into a pan one after another.
When I'm not home during the day (most days), dinner is leftovers from the weekend or Trder Joe's heat and serve meals.
Posted by: SarcastiCarrie | 10/31/2011 at 12:13 PM
Well...everyone's out of school by 2pm, which helps with the time to be physically active. Also I am not averse to including chores and such in the physical activity column (for them)--up and down the stairs to put away laundry, lugging groceries up from the car (did I mention our new house has a lot of stairs?), wrestling with the hose outside to water the plants, etc. School is not that far away, but we walk to/from at least once a week (uphill on the way there). Now that's it dark practically in the middle of the afternoon I am less motivated though.
Posted by: Kate | 11/13/2011 at 05:47 AM