We only get one chance on this earth. That's it. Once we use up our time, it is spent. Done. Finished. Gone...forever. There is no getting it back. All cliches, I know. But there is truth in them.
This little expression has been one of my best sellers since it came out. I love it.
What a great reminder that time with our family is paramount. What normally happens? We know we need to spend time with our family whether it be a date night with our spouses, or playing with the kids, but we just have so much to do to take care of those people. After all, they do need food to eat and clothes to wear. Right? Of course, but more than anything they need our time. Kids spell love as t-i-m-e.
We all know how it goes. You're trying to do laundry/dishes/vacuuming/etc. The kids run in and say,
"Mom! Come play with us! We're playing _____!" The first thought that comes to mind is,
"I just want 10 minutes to get SOMETHING done!" But what comes out of our mouth is something closer to a growl, accompanied by an eye roll, a deep sigh and a slam of our hands on the counter. Even though not an actual word has come out of our mouth, what did we just scream at our child?
"Sorry, honey. Laundry/dishes/vacuuming/etc. is more important to me than you." I am so not judging you. I'm am just as guilty of doing that as the next guy...and much more often that I'd like to admit. So here's is my proposed solution to answer that quandary: take 10 minutes to do the "stuff" that needs to get done. But you only get 10 minutes. Then GO PLAY! Set a timer if you have to. Have the kids help you (age appropriately, of course). They'll be much more motivated to help if they know they get to play with you at the end. Let's be honest. We probably get more done in that 10 minutes than we did in the previous 30, anyway. THEN let's visit what lessons we just taught our kids: work needs to be done, then play; we work together, then play together; I am important to my mom because she makes time to play with me. Aren't those the messages we want to send our children?
The event that sparked my my attention to this issue came about from my daughter. It wasn't her persistent insistence that I play with her. That would have been too easy. It started when we went to her parent-teacher conference last year and they had been working on a project where the teacher asked what the kids' parents like to do. She told her teacher that I liked to clean house. Can you believe that? I like to clean house??? It hit me like a ton of bricks. Ouch. I don't like to clean house, but I don't like living in a filthy one, either. My 9-year-old didn't see it that I was doing it for her. She just noticed that I was doing it all the time. I'm learning to let go of the little things that don't get done as often as I'd like. I'm trying to play more because time spent with family is worth every second.
What message do you want to send your kids today? Comment below.
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