Family time is sacred time and should be protected and respected. Boyd K. Packe Click To Tweet
Have you ever like time was slipping by you. You can remember like it was yesterday , that feeling of being a newlywed. Now, you look around and the kids are growing and you’re in the middle of life. Everything around you seems to have sped up.
Karina, 55, teacher, England: My daughter felt forgotten
As a teacher, it was impossible to complete work duties in a regular eight hour work day. As a single parent either my teenage daughter spent lots of time alone at home or she had to spend afternoons at my school watching me work. I was tired and completely overwhelmed. My stress levels were sky high and my daughter became resentful of my career, and she and I were on antidepressants. My daughter felt forgotten and acted out by ditching school. The irony of teaching, was that I spent more time with other people’s children than I did with my own child. – The Guardian
Have you found yourself in a similar situation or know someone who is. It is this case and so many others that have forced us to re-evaluate our balance in life. So much of our society, pursue work and career goals that our families suffer. Now we know the effect that it has had on our families.
There must be a balance between work and family. Obtaining that balance is now why family time is important. How do make sure that we keep our family time separate from everything else? Here are three steps to move us toward valuing our family time.
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Schedule It
This is helpful really at the beginning of this process. When you’ve been working so hard and have so many things on your plate, the best way to make sure that you are having family time is to put it into your schedule. Until you get to a place where you can willingly and completely separate from your work then your schedule is your best friend.
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Set Boundaries
Have you ever found yourself spending time with your family and yourself drifting to your cell phone. Then you’re scrolling for longer than you expected and end up missing out on family time that you set out to enjoy.
To stop from having this scenario play out repeatedly, set up some boundaries. The first one being that there should be no cell phones during family time. After that, you can set the other boundaries as needed. Let your family know what the rules are, that’s an easy way to have accountability.
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Communicate Value
Your family time is important. Things of importance must have a value to you. The second part of that is that value must be communicated. Making the adjustment and re-balancing your life to include more family time, can be an ongoing battle. You won’t get it right each and every time, but what you can do is to let your family know how important and how much you value the time together.
Even in the missteps, if you can talk from your heart, it will communicate the value you intend.
Discussion Question:
How do you maintain balance in your life?