By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Wednesday, February 11, 2015
This article is a tribute to the parents of large or blended families with children in multiple activities.
I, too, am part of a modern day blended family. Between my spouse and I, we have one teenager in college and four very active teenagers in multiple sports in three different schools. Yes, our house is a crazy house sometimes.
Here is a typical day out of the week — 4 p.m. basketball game at one school, 5:30 p.m. basketball game at another school, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. baseball scrimmage and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. club volleyball practice.
And, yes, between the both of us, we make it to all of these to cheer on our kids.
Don’t forget, there is dinner, laundry and homework during and after all of this.
I’m sure there are lots of families who can relate. We chose long ago to not see this as a burden or sacrifice, but to embrace and cherish every moment. We recognize our kids will only be with us for a short period of time.
Just know, if your kids don’t appreciate you now, they will once they have their own children. Believe it or not, you are their role model and they should want to grow up and be the same type of awesome parent.
Our children’s successes in sports, academics and any other activity lie completely in the hands of parents.
I give my standing ovation to all you amazing parents because we see you in the stands with us.
Like I told my spouse, no matter how crazy and challenging the days are, we all come home together at night to sleep in our loving home.
Sometimes at the end of the day, I feel like the family in the old Waltons TV show. I lie in bed and want to shout out “good night John boy”.