“He’s at a great age for swim lessons.”

It’s one thing to hear such a statement from a stranger, but it’s another when the voice belongs to your three-year-old son’s pediatrician.

Truthfully, I had been preparing myself for this for some time. After all, older, more experienced parents have been warning me since pregnancy: “Just wait until the activities start.”

And now, it seems, the time has come, and the question is felt from all sides.

In which activities will we enroll our children?

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The landscape, of course, has changed considerably since I was a child. And, even then, finances (we had little) and access (rural life) prevented real options from presenting themselves.

But it’s 2016, and a child’s activities have become a social status marker. For our family, the money is available, but our willingness to share of our free time simply isn’t.

Just recently, I had the opportunity to connect with friends over a beautifully rare childfree dinner. At one point, I found myself unable to add to the conversation. The topic of discussion? Toddler sports. The number in which our children participate? Zero.

It was odd, really, but I had never considered recreational activities as social capital. But it makes sense. Those you see on and off the field or at pick-up and drop-off become a community of sorts, and – in full disclosure – that sounds pretty freakin’ attractive.

Only, my husband and I still – beyond all rationality – strive for family dinners…at the table…in our home. And dessert is, perhaps, sweetest of all: chasing our children through the yard.

For now, we have elected to invest inward.

—

But we look ahead to music lessons, sporting events, and extracurriculars with the hopes that our careers will increasingly allow freedom in the years to come – that we will be wise in choices involving our kids’ time.

The swim lessons, I must admit, aren’t currently a top priority. And perhaps our children will forgive us one day.

For in those years where the options were endless, we chose them.

::today’s daily inspiration::