As with everything in life, there is also a season for everything with work. These past few months, work has been extremely busy for my husband. Most of the time he would come home between 7 to 9 in the evening. He would often work on weekends as well including Sundays, leaving home early and coming back late in the evening. I myself is quite busy these past weeks even if I only work freelance. Before, I only work when my child is asleep but now with competing deadlines I was forced to work during the day.
It has been challenging for all of us because we value family time and we want to make sure that we are physically present for our child especially during his formative years. It has also affected our daily rhythm and as a result, our child got fussy and his sleep got unpredictable.
This period, when work demands so much of our time, won’t last forever. We might be back on our regular rhythm after a couple of months. But, our child would never wait for it to slow down. He will just continue to grow each day. So, we make sure to squeeze in family time, no matter how short.
On this day, a Sunday, for example, we may look like a family vacationing in these photos but in reality, this was just a 3-hour break for hubby. The day before, he left home at 8 am for field work and came home around 8 pm. On this day, he had a scheduled meeting at 3 pm which lasted until 9 pm. But we were able to visit Temple of Leah in the morning. The total travel time was 1 hour and we stayed there for about 2 hours, enabling our child to have so much fun running around.
Before we left to the Temple of Leah we were working while our child was still asleep. When he woke up, we had breakfast then got ready to leave. After we got home from the temple, we had lunch then hubby left for his meeting. Our child was still awake by the time he came home in the evening so we were still able to spend time together before he slept.
Every day, we make sure we are there when our child wakes up. We’d spend a few minutes together, greeting him good morning with hugs and kisses and asking if he had a good sleep, before hubby starts to prepare for work while me and our child would play outside. Sometimes hubby would bathe our child before he takes a bath himself. That’s one of their bonding moments while I enjoy my morning coffee. If time permits, hubby would play with him outside or we would go to a park.
At times, what stops many parents from going places as a family is the amount of planning required. I am also guilty of this sometimes when I feel so lazy to even Google a safe, child-friendly places to visit. But I learned that it’s not so much about the place that matters but the time we get to spend as family and the opportunity to be outdoors, for our child to see another scenery which will enrich his childhood experiences. Sometimes, we don’t really need a whole day. An hour, even 30 minutes less, is enough because it’s not really about the length of time but the quality of moments shared.
Even the day-to-day activities at home can be made special. Hubby giving our child a bath or brushing our child’s teeth can be a special bonding moment when filled with love and laughter. The three of us playing, reading books or singing songs in our bedroom be it for hours or only a few minutes are some of the simple yet priceless joys we are fortunate to have.
No comments:
Post a Comment