Being busy...why?

Lately I've been thinking about our culture and how busy we are.  I work at a physical therapy clinic and a large part of my job is scheduling patients.  Sometimes it doesn't take long for them to figure out the best day and time to come in, other times they're standing there for what seems like hours hemming and hawing..."Umm, next week I'm slammed.  I have this thing and that thing and I have to take my kid to this and that."  Which brings me to my main point, are we training our little people to be busy, over committed adults?  Don't get me wrong, I think organized sports, dance lessons, music lessons and martial arts are excellent things for our kids to be involved in and absolutely plan on finding the right one for our kids (when we can afford it); but I also think it's possible to do too much.  I know so many adults that are over committed in their lives and lack the ability to say "no".  I learned in college how important boundaries are and the value of being able to say no to people when I know I am at my limit.  I have enough going on right now with my husband working full time and me part time (at the same job by the way so basically we don't see each other).  I can't tell you how ready I am for THAT to be over.  Then you add in being a mom to 3 kids, homeschooling one sometimes two of them!  What I definitely need in my life is some more friend time...but I've found it hard to actually connect with people in this city.  There have been some who have been totally awesome, I send them a text and they find a time to hang out...but for the most part, people are just too damn busy.  It sucks.  Literally, it sucks the life out of you.  When you're going, going, going, how can you possibly have anything left for those you love, let alone yourself?

I fear that we are training up tiny duplicates of us that are over committed and burnt out.  What sparked this train of thought was my own fear that I don't have my kids involved in "enough".  As a teacher I wonder, am I doing enough with him?  I wonder if I am a bad parent because my kids aren't taking music lessons, ballet, swim, soccer, yada yada yada.  Granted, a large reason they're not is because we live in a city we cannot afford (hence why we're moving) and like I said, we greatly desire these things for our kids, especially music.  We also share a car so while we occasionally go on a "field trip" or to the science center, we're not going to fun and exciting places every other day.  Sometimes I have guilt over this and then I realize, hey...I'm a mom, not a cruise ship entertainer!  If I was constantly taking them places or organizing exciting activities they wouldn't have the time or freedom to play "Batman and Robin" or whatever wacky thing they think of on the spot.  I am far from being a perfect Pinterest mom but one thing I am proud of in my kids is their imagination.

I can't wait to sign up Zoe for violin lessons or Kieren for Tai Kwon Do (or whatever)...but I can tell you one thing, I will not be carting them from this thing to that and making them play 3 different sports.  I mean, do we really need more chickens running around with their heads cut off in this country?  Personally I think what we need is more balance, more peace and more connection with other human beings.