Be careful to build family time
"One should be careful how he builds."
-- 1 Corinthians 3:10 (NIV)
It was a sunny, Saturday morning. My husband, Jeff, was making plans to build a landscape wall of red and gray brick around the trunk of our willow tree, when the phone rang and it looked like there would be a sudden change of plans.
It appeared two of our grandchildren would be coming for a surprise visit. Their other grandfather was going for emergency surgery, and my son and daughter-in-law needed to go to the hospital -- we would be babysitting for the day.
As I thought about the change in plans, I encouraged Jeff, "Maybe should you go ahead and build the wall and ask the kids to help." He thought about it for a moment and felt that it was a suggestion that could work.
When the kids arrived, we explained that Grandpa was building a small wall around the base of the tree and could use some help. I watched out the window and noticed one grandchild jump into the back of the pickup truck to pass out the bricks, while Jeff and the other one, strategically placed them in line one after the other. I enjoyed watching moments of laughter come from this hardy assembly line of workers as they had some fun while they completed their task.
In today's society for many reasons there as been a breakdown of family values. As parents we are busy and quality time with our children rarely exists. Sometimes the guilt of having to work so hard can make us parents feel we have to plan elaborate outings in order to spend quality time with our kids -- but due to financial restrictions that's not always possible. We need to remember it's our time and attention our children really desire and need. They are even happy to help us complete a task.
The formative years of a child's life are where they are the most impressionable. They need to learn how to build good relationships, work habits, and spiritual growth. However, we know as parents, nurturing relationships and teaching our children is not always easy and can be trying at times; but it can also be fun. Although there are times we must look like the bad guys and discipline our children, we can balance out these times as we search out ways to be creative and find fun ways to invite our children to help us complete tasks. In doing so we build strong family bonds as we nurture healthy relationships, promote work ethics, and make some fun memories in the process.