The common refrain these days seems to be, "Whew....life is crazy. We are so busy." It's almost a badge of achievement for some parents to breathlessly describe their on the run lives--as if they're giving their child a leg up by being on two travel sports teams, the school's team and a little strength training on the side.
Describing their busy schedules seems to validate parent's efforts and suggest that they are giving their children stellar advantages. Phoning their middle schooler's soccer coach demanding more play time or taking charge of their child's off-season training assures them they are on top of this project called "parenting."
We are busy parents micro-managing busy kids. We love our children and want to provide everything we can to see them empowered, and successful. In the midst of all this busyness, however, kids are burning out both physically and spiritually. What their souls crave much more than another winning game is the loving presence of an adult who listens and cares deeply. They need less pressure to perform and more open-ended time to ponder. Rather than being a project their parents strategically plan, with achievements measured on a corporate-like timeline, kids yearn for a relationship with their mom and dad.
Just because our own lives might be frenetic with work, family, and the endless tasks of daily life, doesn't mean we should program our kids into that rhythm. When we find the balance between offering our children healthy sports opportunities and running them ragged, our own pace inevitably winds down.
When we create a manageable schedule for our kids, we eliminate some of the exhaustion and stress that is consuming far too many of them. Sports do help children learn and grow, but too much of a good thing can hurt.
It is possible to create balance within your family's everyday life, even with children who participate in sports. The essential ingredient is balance. Here are five tips for balancing your children's sports schedules with your family life.
1. Children's individual temperaments need to be taken into account when planning sports involvement. Determine the activity level that keeps each of your kids on an even keel. Some children need the energy a group provides and thrive on the dynamics of team sports, while others are sourced and refueled by taking a quiet walk around the neighborhood or shooting baskets on their own. Observe your children, listen to them, and follow your own intuition.
2. Schedule a family meeting and come equipped with a large master calendar.Examine the logistics of your family's schedule, in terms of budgeting time, money, and carpool stamina. Talk about everyone's current commitments and goals for the upcoming season. Then, fill in the calendar using a different color marker for each child's obligations. It's not possible to back out of current commitments, you want your children to learn follow through, but you can get a handle on what must change next season!
3. Designate one night a week or month as Family Night. Rent a movie, pop some popcorn, light a fire, and just be together. Make sure that nothing comes in the way of your standing Family Night.
4. Our culture doesn't honor the value of free time, but we must. Kids aren't comfortable with quiet as they grow older because they aren't used to it. It's of critical importance to create space in our young children's days for unstructured, open-ended, quiet time.
Make sure the weekends are a time to rest, daydream, and recharge for the week ahead.
Balancing your work and home life with a regular 9 to 5 is hard enough, doing it when you work from home is FAR more challenging. You will find that operating a home business will bring to light many new challenges. Some of the best advice I can offer is contained right here.
I love it when I see "work-at-home" programs on TV and on the Internet displaying images of wealth and retirement associated with their programs. They always show someone sailing on a yacht sipping on champagne or swinging their "5-iron" on the back nine, or relaxing in a hammock on some beach in the Caribbean.
They all talk about "taking back your life" and how much time you can now have for family and the "important things" in life. Working from home will FINALLY allow you all the time you need to do personal and fun things. They make it look as though with a minimal time investment you'll be relaxing and "living large" in no time.
Well that's a "Big Brown Load" Lorraine. Let me break it down...
Running your own home business certainly has its benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. You're no idiot, surely you realize there's good and bad in everything in life. Believe me it's FAR better to be in control of your life and your own destiny, but don't be fooled by those images of instant wealth and retirement. These people are selling something. Remember that Reggie!
You're smart enough to know there is a trade off with everything in life. Nothing is perfect and I feel that if you're going to succeed with your home business, you should be well aware of what really awaits you as a work at home entrepreneur.
The big myth in running your own home-based business is that it will allow you to spend more time with your family. Now this is technically true - simply due to the fact that you will be working from home means that you'll be around your family most of the time out of default. But that doesn't necessarily mean that time is "quality" nor "recreational".
You must understand your HOME is now also your place of BUSINESS. You make your own schedule, true, but this doesn't mean you will have any more "free" time than you had if you worked a regular 9 to 5.
Working from home presents time management challenges. At home you have the opportunity for far more distractions than in a traditional work place, i.e. the kids, spouse, relatives, the bed, the dog, chores, TV, the doorbell, the bed, phone, the couch, the refrigerator, the co-ed next door, the bed, the gardening, the newspaper, the bed, the next installment of "Harry Potter"...
Did I mention the bed...GET THE IDEA?
Homes, by nature, are a MINE-FIELD of distraction. These distractions will limit the amount of actual free time you have to spend with your family on true recreation. Now distractions are unavoidable, falling prey to them is avoidable. In order to keep focused on work you must create a work schedule and stick to it. When it's time to work you must get to work.
So what can you do? You should keep a calendar, schedule and to-do list. Utilizing Microsoft's Outlook program is the BEST way to accomplish this. Outlook quite literally acts as your personal assistant.
Just not as pretty...or handsome...depending on which way your door swings.
Get up every morning and act as though you're going out to work. Keep regular work hours and don't stray from them. All these things combined, will help to minimize falling prey to distraction.
Distraction will either take away from your leisure time or your work time. Leisure time means less quality and work time means less money, you can't afford either. If you adhere to this you'll have plenty of time for both business and leisure in your life.
I also suggest setting up your "office" someplace in your home where you can have some privacy. Avoid setting it up in your bedroom or other common area of the home. Find a location where you will have ample room. Any place where you can lock the door, and not be disturbed by household activity is optimal.
Running a successful business requires a serious time commitment. If you don't spend time on business activities, how can it possibly become profitable and flourish? I've never met a wealthy business owner that didn't invest regular hours into their business. Sure they play hard and take long vacations, but it's all relative, because they put in 16-hour work days when they're at work.
Do you think if Bill Gates only spent 20 hours a week developing Windows he'd be the richest man in the world today? Maybe tomorrow, but not today.
The bottom line is if you don't approach your home business with realistic expectations you will certainly set your self up for failure. Don't pay attention to the "Get Rich Easy" scams. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
Be patient, stay focused, work smart, be flexible and again BE PATIENT!
Both Mimi Doe & Dee Ideeut are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Mimi Doe has sinced written about articles on various topics from Parenting, College Education and Parenting. Mimi Doe is the founder of Parenting.com and the award-winning author of five books including "Busy But Balanced." Her free newsletter has more than 50,000. Mimi Doe's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.
Dee Ideeut has sinced written about articles on various topics from Parenting, Home Improvement and Online Marketing. Duh Idiot's Home Biz Start-Up Guide - The "Idiot's" on-line resource for starting a home business. . Dee Ideeut's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.