A typical day for parents can be hectic:
6:00 a.m.— get the kids up
6:15 a.m.— try again to get the kids up
6:30 a.m.— breakfast, get the kids dressed
7:00 a.m.— take the kids to school
7:05 a.m.— go back home to get the homework they forgot, back to school, off to work
3:00 p.m.— pick kids up from school
Then ballet, baseball, football, piano, and help with homework. Cook dinner, do homework again, then to bed.
So many of us have an “airlines approach” to scheduling. Airlines routinely overbook their flights and often end up having to bump some stressed-out passengers to different flights. We can become a little stressed ourselves when we leave no margin and overbook our children’s schedules and our own schedules. An overly booked schedule can be the culprit that causes pressure in a family. Our busy schedules plus our children’s busy schedules equals missed opportunities to enjoy life and one another.
What can you do? Carve out 30 minutes on your calendar and picture yourself flying at 30,000 feet looking down on your schedule and your child’s schedule. What do you see? Are there things that can be eliminated that aren’t necessary? Television and video games on weekdays? Maybe you can even stop doing a couple of good things to ensure that you are doing the most important things. Should your child choose one of the two sports he is playing? Should you say “no” to serving on that committee at church or work?
What are you saying “no” to so that you can say “yes” to spending more family time enjoying your children?
