I come from a family that believes in carrying through…. If you promised to be somewhere at a certain time, then you had better keep that promise, even if you are running a temperature of 103.
To be perfectly candid, that kind of attitude is really, really helpful. There are so many times in life that I have wanted to give up…to lie down and not get up again…to dump the cereal all over the floor…you get the picture — but I just couldn’t do that. My training wouldn’t let me give up — even though I confess to being wobbly often and often. It is very important to make commitments, and to keep them.
Having said that, I am a person who makes too many commitments, and with 6 kids, it was very easy to do that. I needed to learn that there is a limit to what one person can do. Even if I COULD get everything done that I had planned to do, it was sometimes at the expense of those precious children I was supposed to be helping, as my overburdened nerves began to ravel around all the edges.
If you need to hear it, just let me say that it is perfectly OK to plan some extra down time into your life, and then to fiercely guard that time. Explain to your kids why you cannot fill up every minute of the day, and help them to see how important those extra minutes are in their lives as well.