In a world where ‘having lots of money’ is often perceived by many as ‘necessary’ in order to ‘enjoy life better’, it is undeniable that the search for money and material comfort has somehow (consciously or unconsciously) taken precedence over … family.
I’ve heard and read about couples who said, ‘We’ll leave the kids to mostly be taken care of by someone else right now, especially since we need to concentrate on our career. Our business / career is taking off at the moment. And when we both have saved up quite a bit of money in a few years time, we’ll slow down and spend more time with the children. We’ll all get to enjoy the money that we’ve worked very hard for. We’re doing all this for our children’s sake. We want them to have a better life. We want to afford better education. We can even travel together as a family to far away places!’
…
Both Wilson and I attended a series of parenting classes recently, and there’s this general principle that I will always remember : Relationship is built OVER TIME.
A close relationship between parents and their children where there’s trust, love and respect can never be achieved WITHOUT the investment of time.
[We all know of (too many) cases out there where children grow more and more distanced from their busy parents as they grow older, and by the time the parents wish to know more about their children’s lives, they choose to spend their time with their teenage friends away from home instead. And that’s where many family conflicts begin]
…
I tell and remind myself all the time that in the eyes of my two little children, I’m just a mom.
They don’t care about how much (or how little!) money we have in our bank, how many branded goods we have in our wardrobe (or if we had none), or, how much their toys and clothes cost.
What they long for is, our time spent with them.
Whether we listen to their stories and giggle when they go silly.
Whether we play catch with them.
Whether we have a routine and spend time regularly each day, like reading them stories before bedtime.
Whether we genuinely appreciate their drawings or LEGO brick creations.
…
One’s childhood will be over sooner than we think.
Time will fly.
And there’s nothing we can do that can turn back time.
So.
While we still can, and while we still have time, let’s remind ourselves to treasure our children and their growing-up years (however tough and often challenging our moments with them are).
Because really, there are just way too many things in life that money can’t buy.
And one of them is, time.
…
What are your views and thoughts on this? I’d love to hear from you.
