Parenting Giveth and ParentingTaketh Away

This happened because my eldest had the opportunity to travel to Japan with his gymnastics club. We decided the rest of the family could also use a trip, and we'd be nearby if anything went wrong. Without his opportunity, I don't know that I would have ever gone to Japan.

Again gymnastics - this time a week-long camp in Crossville, TN. Not wanting to be far from our kids, we toured Nashville and the Pigeon Forge areas.

A local kid-friendly martial art that I've started practicing too - I never would have signed up for this if I didn't have a kid.

In October we went to Red Robin for my son's birthday - it has gourmet burgers, and I've always wanted to go but probably wouldn't have fit as a 'date night'.

My kids have exposed me to artists I wouldn't have encountered within my usual tastes.

We've only made a few friendships with people because our kids are classmates or teammates.

I was a Beaver Scout leader for a while - and if I didn't have kids, that wouldn't have happened.

Without kids, we would not have had this experience, which opened us up to cruises in general, including a Hawaiian cruise I enjoyed very much.

There are a few movies I've seen purely because I'm a parent.

I've learned sports facts, animal facts, history facts and many more due to the interests of my kids.