Healing Your Balance

As I embark on this New Year, I’m feeling optimistic.  As I work with families with a wide array of challenges, I’m reminded how important it is to maintain some sort of balance in our own lives, as individuals (and as a couple if you’re in a relationship), so that our children can maintain some sort of balance, too.  


It is so easy to over-schedule ourselves living in this time of being accessible 24/7 via phone, computer, text, and email to name a few, and with so many other distractions.  Remember that our grandparents never had to worry about being woken in the middle of the night when a letter arrived (perhaps via Pony Express? lol). They didn’t even have TV in the middle of the night, since the stations shut off and all the stores closed by 8pm, if not earlier!  


And now we have Super Walmart and hundreds of channels on day and night. We have so many distractions that many of us are feeling really overwhelmed right now.  We have a constant pull on our time in so many directions.  How do you make it all work?  I know that I’ve been working to simplify my life quite a bit.  I have been asking the question, “Is this really necessary?” quite a bit.  Sometimes the answer is yes.  Sometimes it is no.

Last month, I did an interview with Joan Almon and we talked about the importance of balance. Most importantly, we talked about how to create it in a family.  It was a great reminder for me of how important it is for all of us to make the time to play (even the grown-ups) and if you (as the parent) are worn out by your child’s schedule, then it is probably too much for your child, too.  You can listen to the whole interview full of great parenting tips for free the weekend of January 14-16.  Click here for more information. 

We talked a lot about the importance of unstructured play time for our children and that we, as adults, also need time to just be and to play.  Next time, I’ll be talking more about play and how we can add it into our day with our children, regardless of their age.

I love to hear from you, so let me know more about what is working or not working for you regarding balance in your family.