Layer Your Nest: Use your past to shape the present. (Mom's Journal).(parenting skills)(Brief Article)

Parenting experts say that families should limit their extracurricular activities to one per child per season. Supposedly, this is the key to a stress-free family life. And I'm sure for some families it works like a charm. But I can remember when I felt like even one after-school activity per kid was more than I could bear. I thought I'd crack under the stress of merely considering Girl Scouts and swimming lessons.

But day by day, week by week, I figured out how to meld my kids schedules with mine, how to navigate between commitments, and even how to ask other moms to trade off driving. Looking back, I marvel that God truly intervened, teaching me to balance my life …