I have friends who have siblings and every single weekend their parents are at some type of sporting event. I have cousins who have multiple children and their weekends are pretty much filled with soccer games, acting classes and more. After Working all week and dragging your kids back and forth to practice, the last thing you want to do is spend your weekend at competitions. Especially if you live in California like me and have to wake up at 6am just to get somewhere on time. However the joy of watching your child do something they love somehow outweighs the inconveniences of never having time to just sleep in.

This past weekend my daughter AmirahLee had her first Karate competition. I was excited to see her compete but not excited about waking up early. I've never been a morning person and I never will be, but being a mother doesn't really leave room for the option of sleeping in anymore lol. So I woke up and made breakfast, packed our bags and headed to her competition. Her father drove which allowed both Amirah and I time to sleep in the car (my favorite thing to do now that I'm pregnant). It was amazing watching her do her Kata over and over again with confidence, she came in second place and I couldn't have been more proud. It was actually nice to sit with the parents and talk, getting to know some of them on a more personal level. It was also nice to just celebrate my baby girl for working hard every day at practice.

The important thing to remember when planning your weekend is to never over plan. We knew our saturday was pretty much going to be spent at the tournament and driving to and from. So we drove back to Orange County, went to our favorite Thai restaurant and ate. We spent the rest of the evening watching movies and laying around the house. The perfect balance to a hectic week. Sunday was spent grocery shopping and taking Amirah to the park so she could run around and hopefully get tired. That never works by the way, why don't 7 year olds get tired??!!

I use to think that good parenting was filling your days full of endless activities and stretching every minute into something to do. I have learned over the years that spending quality time and balancing your time is far better for the parents and child. You do't want your child to get use to a full schedule because they may go crazy when something isn't planned for them. It has actually worked in our favor to teach our daughter to find things to do and spend time working on her art or playing with toys. Her creativity becomes stronger and she is able to entertain her self without constantly needing our attention.

The best advice I can give is to always plan nothing at some point. Allow yourself time to relax and really enjoy your space as a parent. Our weekends can often feel like a week when we don't give ourselves time to relax. You always want to teach your children the importance of balance in life. Self care is super important and it doesn't ever make you a bad parent if you just take a moment to not do anything.

@AshleySirah