I find a lot of moms (online) saying we're too busy, but we're all enjoying our activities. I seriously have been there, at home most of the day with the kids...and for us that doesn't work so well. The fact that our neighbors coach two sport teams makes MY head spin. I can only do one official sport a season per kid. It just doesn't feel like we're overbooked. I am wondering if other moms find their lives so drastically different (though of course the 5 kids probably makes for a busier schedule by default).
Typical Day:
7-year-old in school 9 to 5 (last 2 hours after-care program that child loves). And, twice a week a sport or music practice in the evening. This is a very active child who thrives on structure.
1 preschooler goes 5 days a week for 3 hours, the other 4 days a week for 5 hours. And, they really like it!
2-year-old will be 5 days a week preschool for 2-3 hours.
Baby 3 days a week for 2 hours in gym nursery (on-site of another child's school). Baby plays or sleeps and does perfectly fine there; loves watching the older kids play, too.
Weekends involve a sport game and usually swimming lessons, plus dance and Sunday school.
Then in summer :
The oldest does a camp daily, usually from 10 to 2pm (or 9 to 12, then home for lunch, and another camp 1-4). The full-day camps tended to be too monotonous, so this allows us to take advantage of some of the more structured specialty camps that are shorter. He loves it!). For example, building Legos in the morning, then soccer in the afternoon. A good mix of mind and body.
The preschoolers go to a daily summer preschool camp 9 to 12 (a series of different weekly camps with different themes, so it doesn't get old). (And the baby and toddler are simply along for the ride in the summer). Since it's light out, we'll add evening stuff based on what the kids want, like a sport class, etc.
I am the one telling my kids that no, we can't do X, Y and Z because we can't fit it in. I try to accommodate their interests, but I can't be two places at once.
I know families with multiple older kids, all in sports, and wow! We're not there yet. All I know is we're having fun and I'm grateful for the many enrichment opportunities our community offers. Of course, if being at home more and doing a lot less works for some families, that's great! I know a lot of my kids' friends play videos or electronics a lot, and we don't have any of that. Just a TV and yes, they (older ones) do get close to the AAP limit most days (even with lots of activities), but not over.
(Many of the activities are very low cost, run by volunteers. Part of the summer stuff is FREE. Yes, we're lucky they offer this. One of my kid's preschool's is totally free, too (he qualified based on a screening and is now doing really, really well). So no, this is not all costing the huge dollars it might seem like; I don't mean to imply that it's all expensive).