This Past Saturday, my husband and I look our 19 month old son to the pool. It made me think about how important it is for families to spend quality time with each other. With as busy as our daily lives get with work, school, and after-school activities it's easy to forget to spend time together. Gone are the days of free time and family meals at the dinner table. We have traded it in for trips through the fast food drive-through on the way to soccer practice and dance lessons. We have scheduled our lives down to the last second. While I do think its fun for kids to be apart of after-school activities, it is more important to set aside family time because our children are being raised by their schools and the media.
Family outings don't have to cost a ton of money, for example our trip to the pool cost us a total of $2. That's it. Our son had an absolute BLAST splashing and playing in the water with his daddy. $2 for a happy childhood memory. Seeing the joy on my little boy's face was absolutely priceless.
In all honesty, kids don't care about money. They really don't. They just want YOU. More family time brings families closer together. It builds relationships so that your children are comfortable asking you the tough questions. They don't feel like mom and dad are too busy to care or too uncomfortable to ask.
Lets make a change, one day a week, lets shut off the T.V. put down our phones and be with our families. Weather it's a trip to the local zoo, a swim at the pool, or grilling burgers in the back yard while the kids play. Get on the floor and play with the Legos with them, join the tea party, or sword match. It won't cost you much if anything, and they will treasure those moments for the rest of their lives. When you are gone, what do you want them to remember most about you?
