Family Friday - Wasted Time

School is officially back in full swing. Our kids are gone for hours roughly eight hours of the day for school and sleep another eight, some more. That leaves only eight hours, at most, to spend with them. {Or in my case, we homeschool. However, while we are together, we are not necessarily together because we are still working.}

So let's look at that eight hours left. And remember that the eight hours is being generous because most kids sleep more than eight hours. Within that eight hours is homework, dinner, showers, chores, preparing for the next day of school, etc. So let's take that eight hours down to about five. Again, being generous as sometimes that homework can take a long time.

Five hours. Five hours to be with your children. That is all.

What do you do with that five hours? Is the tv on? Is everyone off in their own world of cell phones, ipads and computers? What are you doing during these short hours to connect with your child? What are you doing to invest in their life?

It can be so easy at the end of a long day to unwind in front of the tv. It can be so easy to catch up on social media and share about our day with the world around  us. But what about those precious faces right there in your home?

A few weeks ago I bought a 1000 piece puzzle. We hadn't done a puzzle in a little over a year and I wanted an activity that required us working together. We sat down that evening and worked together on this puzzle. For the next two weeks, each evening after dinner we would sit down and work together. We would laugh and joke, share stories of our day and tease each other. The tv was off, computers were off, cell phones we in the other room. It was just the family connecting as one. And it was beautiful. My husband and I looked forward to that time as a family all day. I cherish that time and the memories.

One day we will look around and our children will be grown. The house will be silent. We will wonder where the time went. We will think back on those memories filed away. What will your memories be of? Laughing over a board game? Working a puzzle together? After dinner walks with the family? Or everyone off doing their own thing? Everyone quiet because someone had to see a tv show?

You only have a few hours a day to be a family. Don't waste it.