Being a mother is always a balancing act. Are your kids eating enough? Are they spending too much time on game systems or plopped in front of the TV? Are they spoiled?
A couple of years ago, I started thinking about the value of experiences over material goods. My boys had all these toys that they never played with. I’m talking about hundreds of dollars just hidden in toy boxes or under their beds. When I realized what was going on, I decided that our family was going to start having more experiences and, therefore, gaining a better appreciation for the world around them.
We started taking more trips and having fun adventures. I nurtured my boys’ love for the outdoors. We went camping, fishing, on four-wheeler and snowmobile rides, and archery.
The best thing to come out of these experiences is our appreciation of each other as a family.
We still have lazy days though. We love to have family movie nights and play games with each other. Nerf wars and building Legos are a high priority for all my kids. I also love nurturing the sports that they want to try. My youngest son has recently joined a weekly Ninja Camp. He jumps and tumbles, and I love that he is getting out vast amounts of energy. My other boys love archery and are in a weekly archery class for kids. They compete and learn how to hit bullseyes on their targets.
I still find toys that they are hoarding in their bedrooms in their original packaging and broken ones that they can’t let go of, but they also have learned the value of letting go and giving their toys to kids that might appreciate them more. Giving your children experiences may not work for everyone. It was something that I had to work at and find a balance for them in cultivating things they want to do as well as things they need to at least try.
It’s also about understanding who your child really is. I used to put my son in a variety of sports. However, he never really liked them nor was he very good at them. I still try to get him to give a new sport a chance, but I have also realized that he just isn’t as interested in sports as he is in other things and that’s ok.
