The Cost of Kids

In case anyone was wondering about whether or not having kids was really that expensive, let me assure you, it is. With summer approaching, and enrollment open for all sorts of kids sports and activities, the bills just keep rolling in! Soccer practice, swimming lessons, dance recitals, gymnastics summer camps--the list could go on and on! And as though one child in all of these activities isn't bad enough, since our kids are so close, we currently have two in the same class. And next summer there will be three, then four! Who can afford to keep up with it all? And setting cost aside, is it even desirable to keep up with it all? Those questions have been haunting me lately and forcing me to decide what is really important in life. How should parents balance the demands of the world with the innocence of childhood and the necessity of family responsibilities? When do you start your kids in sports and dance, in music lessons and art? If you wait until they are older and give them more time to be "just kids," then they are behind other kids who have been doing it since they were three. If you put them in everything when they are three, they get burned out or over-taxed. So which do you do? And what things do you do? Do you put them in everything so they can try them all out and find out what they want to pursue? Or do you pick something for them since this year they might hate soccer, but when you help them stick with it, next year they love it? Who knows? And what about our motives? Why are we so anxious to have our kids in everything anyway? Do I want my kids to grow up to be professional athletes, Broadway dancers, etc? Or do I just want them to have something constructive to do that will help them learn social skills and teamwork? And if its the latter, then where does it all stop? What do you do when they start dance at three and by the time they are eight, they are so good they need to be in six dance classes a week with private instruction and national competitions? Then do you pull them out and say too much, or do you let them keep progressing? I know this is a lot of questions, but this is my battle of late. I think it is my inclination to do less, to keep my kids close. But in all honesty, I feel torn in a hundred different directions. Plus, I have the added stress of homeschooling and feeling like the kids need some out of the house activities. Decisions, decisions. Why didn't someone mention that parenting was going to be this difficult?