You're doing your best

Please let me share on note so I don't forget what I was talking about with my son and daughter while driving the other day,
and what I told my family of four at dinner tonight
(*'ω'*)

✨ I showed this article to my daughter and got her permission to post it.

My laid-back first-year junior high daughter has joined a club.

Besides having practice almost every afternoon, she also has practice on Saturdays.
Morning practice, which used to be about half the week, has become almost every day.

On days with morning practice,
she wakes up at 5:15, gets ready at her own pace, and leaves the house around 6:30.

She gets home from club activities after 18:30.
From there, she changes clothes and does various things,
has dinner around 19:00 (she eats slowly, so it takes 30 minutes to an hour),
takes a bath from 20:45 (her autistic brother's bath time is prioritized, so she goes later),
and even if she tries her best to hurry, she doesn't get to her desk until after 21:20.
The time between finishing dinner and taking a bath is her free time.

The study time recommended by the school is her grade level (1st year) + 1 hour = 2 hours.

She also has something like a diary where she writes about her day,
and she doesn't finish until at least 23:30.

On days when she has a lot to do, she sometimes goes past midnight 💦

If she has morning practice the next day, she wakes up at 5:15 again.
⭐ Children who go to cram school lead even busier lives.

It's been a little over a month since she started school.
Unfamiliar school life + a tight club schedule.

I think she's really doing her best.

My junior high school life was much more relaxed and carefree.
There was no morning practice, so I woke up at 7:00.
(At this point, I was sleeping about two hours more than my daughter)

Since I was fast at eating and getting ready,
I finished what I had to do early.
There wasn't a single day where I went to school with less than 5 hours of sleep.

I think she's really doing her best (second time).

When I go to check on her out of concern sometimes,
she's tired and dozing off past 11 PM.

There were days she was sleeping in her chair while holding her mechanical pencil,
and days she was sleeping on the floor leaning against her bed.
=> I'd lift her up and roll her into bed.

By continuing to do this every day,
her body will probably get used to it.
She'll probably build up stamina, too.

Even so.

She's working so hard (for the third time).

That's why.

I've decided not to nag her
about homework or studying.

I want to avoid cornering my daughter, who is already at her limit.

We live in a world obsessed with grades and academic credentials, but
the future of a child who has been constantly pressured
by both parents and school to "be excellent."

I don't want her to catch a "cold of the heart" after becoming an adult,
or develop a "mindset that pushing yourself is normal,"
or a "mindset that you have no value unless you're excellent,"
or become unable to take care of herself.
I want her to prioritize herself,
be kind to herself,
and learn to cherish herself.

I thought this with full-blown doting parent and overprotective energy (*´ω｀*)

The top image was borrowed from Shirokumakirin-san.
Because I imagined my daughter waddling around middle school like a penguin 🎵