When you look at your calendar between now and the New Year, is it a source of stress? It is far too easy to over-schedule our families and ourselves as the holidays approach.
Here are a few tips for finding balance during the holiday season from Focus on the Family:
- Prioritize. Consider carefully what things are most important. There will always be competing demands on our attention (technology, work, etc.), but you get only a limited amount of time to build relationships together as a family. Choose wisely.
- Check in. Try to have weekly (or at least monthly) meetings as a family. Mealtimes are great opportunities for conversation. Discuss your calendar and talk about what can stay and what needs to go. Explore what is working and not working, what hurts and what helps. As a family, learn to say "no" to unnecessary time-stealers.
- Pause. Take time to laugh, smile, and connect. Focus on what is really important in the big picture, rather than just what is urgent at the moment.
As a parent, you get about 6,500 days with each of your children between birth and 18 years of age. Do you really want to spend all those days leading a frantic, stress-filled life? Make the most of your time by concentrating on the crucial things: God and each other.
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