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How to Fit
Quality Family Time into Your Busy Schedules
If your family
is anything like ours, you are running in a million different
directions. Soccer games on Tuesday, PTA meetings on Monday,
business trips on Thursday and Friday, and Sunday everyone
collapses from exhaustion. In all the hustle and bustle of
daily life, it gets very easy to forego family time. After all,
the bills need paid, groceries bought, and homework done. There
just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day or week. And
then many families ask, “Why do we need family time at all
anyway?” We see and talk to each other every day (though
admittedly it may be as we pass each other in the door), email
each other daily, and frankly the kids aren’t complaining. So
why add to our already busy schedules? Because simply, our kids
crave it. Yes, they may not be asking, but in the end all kids
really want from their parents is their undivided,
non-distracted time.
For the most part, kids are very adaptable. They learn to go
with the flow, know when the right and wrong time is to ask us
for something, and learn that sometimes it is just easier not to
ask. And sometimes kids just don’t know the words to express
what they are feeling or what they need from us. So their
frustrations come out as crankiness, whining, and bad behavior.
So what’s a family to do? Follow these tips and you will be on
your way to regular fun filled family time.
Schedule
Regular Family Time
– Grab your
family calendar
and schedule your
family time for this month on everyone’s calendar. Once it’s
scheduled, protect it like gold. This means saying no to the
last minute birthday party your son gets invited to, saying no
the PTA president who desperately needs you to manage the book
fair, and saying no to your boss when she asks you to work late.
Plan It
– Nothing ruins a family outing more than waiting until the last
minute to figure out what to do. Agree as a family ahead of
time what you will do and then make your reservations, print
your maps, organize your supplies, and fill your car with gas
ahead of time.
Make it Fun
– Discuss together as a family what fun things everyone would
like to do. Make sure everyone’s voice is heard and negotiate
differences. If time or money is a concern, then it may be a
good idea for the parents to come up with a pre-approved list
from which the kids can choose.
Turn Off the
TV, Video Games, and Computer
Nothing takes away from quality family time like a TV blaring in
the background. Give your family a chance to connect without
all the background noise and you will be amazed at the things
you learn and how much you laugh.
Make it a
Priority
– This is the hardest thing for many families to do, but if you
can accomplish this everything else will be much easier.
So schedule and plan your family time now. Your kids will thank
you for those “little things” later.
Polly Schlafhauser is Founder and President of Families with
Purpose, a website dedicated to helping busy families enhance
their family life. To subscribe to their FREE newsletter or to
learn about more great family activities, visit their website at
www.familieswithpurpose.com.
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