Making Changes that Work

As you know thefamilyroom is about strengthening families, relationships and our communities. With this in mind I would like to share my latest jewel with you.

Most of you 'regular' readers know that I am a mother of three and I run a busy cake design business which has just expanded into new premises. In my life family always comes first and I truly believe I can have my cake and eat it too (sorry couldn’t resist!).

Life is so busy that I (like you) find myself multi-tasking and trying to make the best use of every minute in a day. With this in mind allow me to share with you what my evenings usually look like.....After my children go to bed I tackle the washing, ironing, cleaning, read school notes and so on. To be honest the thought of getting all of these chores done often takes priority in my mind which means after dinner I become focused on putting the children to bed as quickly as possible. I know this isn’t great for anyone so I decided to change. I sat myself down and looked at what I wanted to achieve and how I could do it better keeping harmony in the home whilst making sure my 'jobs' didn't slip. You see I really believe children should go to bed feeling relaxed and content, laughter should fill the house rather than the sound of urgent reminders to brush your teeth and get into bed which was the current state of our home (now I know the 'urgent' does happen however we should try and make it the occasional rather than the norm :).

Here's how I made things different.....We now all pile into our bed. Each child brings a book. The child whose book is being read gets to cuddle up next to me, we all take turns and this is proving to be exceptional for the children and for my soul. Our evenings have become so satisfying for everyone, we read, we laugh, snuggle and I show my children that everything else in the world can wait. I have found that my children go to bed and pop off to sleep quickly following a prayer and a kiss good night. Yet another memory is being forged for them to look back on and smile.

Remember, our circumstances are all different. We can’t look at the way another family operates and expect to duplicate it. Some of us are single parents, some work full-time others have children with special needs and so on. Some of you have children older than mine, with them I encourage you to make adjustments that work for them and that may be staying up later, working on a project together or just sitting up and letting them know your available, you never know what will work with the teenage heart.

Friends take time to be clear on what you desire for your family and look at how you can achieve it based on the way your family looks. Talking with friends, looking at thefamilyroom posts and listening to our podcasts as well as reading parenting books are resources I use when I am confronted with the need to change.

Enjoy the moments.

Annie