I found about five extra hours last week! One afternoon I arrived home far earlier than usual because I did no errands after work. I found time for what needed to be done rather than cramming every minute with twice what could be accomplished.
As I thought about this, I decided a great plan would be to do this every afternoon. I tend to see things in “accumulations”: five hours a week is about 22 hours per month, (almost three eight-hour days) or thirty-three days each year (over a month!) in “extra” time. Who couldn’t use an extra month, even getting it one hour at a time?
When I looked at my after-work schedule to see what kept me from getting home earlier, I found I was my problem ... and I decided I was also my solution! Those “quick” errands ... the milk for supper, the cleaners, the school supplies, all added up to lost minutes, lost hours, lost days, lost time and added stress. Check-out lines are never short when I am hurried, I meet friends and visit, I become distracted and get home late, then try to cram twice what can be done into less time.
Retrieving those lost hours took a bit of organization and planning. Some of my afternoon errand time was spent meeting needs of my family ... “Mom, get me a __ “, “Honey, run by the ___ “ sort of stuff. Reminding them to tell me early or wait until the weekend has paid off. Now, there is almost nothing important enough for me to do during the week except for those errands that absolutely cannot be done on Saturday. All of my shopping, running, errands, etc., that took at least one hour each afternoon, can be done in less than one hour on late Saturday afternoons, when I am more rested, less harried and hurried, the lines shorter, and the crowds thinner.
What does all this have to do with child rearing and education? The most common problem of families with young children is lack of time. Kids need time, time, and more time, and having the hours to spend with children when they need it most is important. Once children are grown, it doesn’t matter if you have more time to spend with them ... they won’t be there, will they! Children, like the space program, come with “windows”, those critical points in their development, when parental time is what they need most. There is no substitute for Mom and Dad’s time and teaching: where to find those hours to spend with kids is a primary concern of parents and society!
Young children need calm, unhurried and unharried parents, young children need time for being read to, time to experiment with their environment, time to listen to family stories, to talk, to explore outdoors, to look at clouds, and to dream. Young children depend upon the adults in their lives to do more than support and protect them ... they learn, every minute, every day, from being with adults. The wonderful thing about making more daily time for children is what they learn from us ... that they are important enough to us for us to spend time with. This may seem obvious to parents, but small children who hear, “Not now, later”, “Not tonight, I’m tired”, Not now, I’m in a rush”, often find it hard to understand where they fit in ... and the opportunities that are lost are hard to make up. Children grow day by day ... hour by hour ... just as our time slips away from us, day by day, hour by hour. Reclaiming time, as I have learned how to do, may just be the answer to finding more time to spend with kids ... and who needs it more?
