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| Time Is of the Essence Spend Time With Your Kids; It’s What They Want by Larry J. Leech II
Despite the new car you may buy them for their 16th birthday, or the mp3 player, cell phone or laptop, believe it or not, the thing they will remember most is the time you spend with them. While it would be easy to back up this with countless statistics that are easily found on the Internet, sometimes personal stories have more impact. They better help encourage, motivate and empower than any dry and sterile numbers. My wife works in the corporate world, while I work from home, so I’m the fortunate one who gets to run errands in the middle of the day with the windows down and the cool breeze blowing through my hair. I was waiting at a red light and watching traffic turning left in front of me, and I noticed SUV after SUV rolling by with the driver on the phone. As the last one rolled by, I eased out on the clutch, waiting for the light to turn green. Then it caught my eye, a little boy sitting in the back seat with his sad-looking face pressed against the window. In the driver’s seat, his mom had her cell pressed to her ear and was talking animatedly. This is not the first time I have seen this. I felt so sad for the little boy. You could tell he wanted some time with his mother, but she was too busy talking to someone else. One dad thinks it’s important to show his sons the importance of a great work ethic. No one can argue that. But if he is missing their soccer games, band functions and other activities, do you think they will care about his work ethic? Are you one of those parents, or are you one of those who don’t miss any extracurricular activities? Parents active in their children’s lives reap a greater reward than those who don’t when a child moves away. The active parents are ones who get to hear “I haven’t talked to you in a few days. I was just wondering what you were doing.” These parents are the ones who get to hear on Christmas Eve, “Are you eating pasta faglio like we used to?” Or, “I was thinking about you the other day when I …” While kids love the connectivity they have with all the fancy gadgets available today, what they really love is spending time with us. Some may remember the song from the early ’70s about a son who wants to throw a ball with his dad, but the dad doesn’t have time. Later in the song, the father, now retired, wants to spend time with his son. The son doesn’t have time. He’s too busy, just like his father was. Is that how you want your kids to remember you? Larry J. Leech II first learned the impact of spending time with children when he was young, not because his father did, but because he didn't. Larry vowed to have a different philosophy with his children. How do you make a point of spending time with your children throughout each day? | Top | Share Your Thoughts... Be the first to comment on this article! |
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Of the 1,440 minutes in each day, how many are you spending with your child?
