| Fighting for Family Time |
By: By Susan Swindell Day - October 2008
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There’s more than enough to do in the world, right? There are more than enough responsibilities and events pulling us in all directions and more headlines distracting us at the touch of a button than anyone should ever want or need. Sometimes it seems like that’s all we ever do is go, go, go. If your daily life includes school, work, after-school sports for each child, then you know what I’m talking about. Forget “there are not enough hours in a day,” there are not enough seconds in a minute or days in a week! But whatever happened to family time? Whatever happened to just hanging out? Whatever happened to stopping and smelling the proverbial roses? I mean, where have all the flowers gone?! Where is the relief from the day-in-day-out grind, I ask you?
Get this: In this age of service and servitude, I think the relief is in saying NO! The relief and the answer to saving your God-given family is in forcing the issue down to: We will not spread ourselves so thin that we do not even have time for each other any more. We will not spread ourselves so thin that now we don’t even look at each other any more.
The relief is in getting away from it all with your family! Falling in love again with being a family that likes to be together and hangs out together and work and plays together. It’s in doing fun things together and getting closer as a group of people. I think of my children: My four precious kids who I feed, clothe and educate. They are all completely different and capable of different amounts of understanding and complex thought, and they are all only at the gateway to their lives. With the noisy world tapping at my door and the phones ringing and the schedules of our lives more packed than ever, I have to fight for US. Everyone wants something from us, but I tell you WE are in danger of being separated before we are ready to be!
When my children were very small, life was very simple. They needed their meat cut and their sippy cups affixed. They needed a sweet bedtime story and extra snuggling in the morning. They absorbed endless lessons in “please” and “thank you” and being considerate of others at all times, especially in public. I volunteered all the time. We did lots and lots of helping others out. But we also had plenty of time for playing, long walks and just hanging out together.
Now that their schedules are so packed that we can hardly fit a weekend in together, and now that they are required to do community service in school, suddenly my “almost 15” daughter wants more time for her friends and not as much time with us. Time is going faster and faster, and before I know it all of my kids will feel this way.
As we head into this great time of year, grab some time for your family. Insist on it. It’s a wonderful, gorgeous world (if you don’t read the headlines) so go out there and be together. Laugh, play, talk, hug, enjoy. In your busy schedules, plan some fun time. And make it a regular thing. You owe it to yourself. You’ve got an amazing family to share your life with!
Share your thoughts! Email susan@daycommail.com.
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