Family

How To Spend Uninterrupted Family Time Together

When our kids were in elementary school I would have the privilege of dropping them off and picking them up and, each day, I would experience organized chaos. For those of you who do a little dropping off and picking up yourself, you know what I am talking about.

From my general observation of all the parents who pick up their kids, myself included, I find that the parents fall into one of three types: Parents who watch life happen, parents who let life happen, and parents who make life happen. To be honest, no one type is better than the others––there isn’t a right or a wrong way to respond, we’re all just different. Let me explain.

1. Parents Who Watch Life Happen
These parents pick up their kids and pull over. They sit, watch and wait until all traffic has cleared. It’s not that they don’t have a desire to move; they just don’t

7 Ways To Simplify Life

We live in a world of bigger, better, faster, stronger. Some would even add “excessive,” and while I don’t believe there is anything wrong with having nice things or many nice things, generally speaking more stuff equals more stress. I’m sure each of us could use a little simplicity in our family life.

Picture a life less complicated, crazy and chaotic. Picture your family life with less calendar clutter, over activity and noise. Now, breathe in, breathe out, wax on, wax off.

Pardon the phrase here, but simple math would tell you that the more you have, the more you will maintain. If you were to Google “simplify life,” a long list of sites would appear, and those wouldn’t necessarily include the books, blogs, magazines and movies––all geared to help you live life simply.

“This desire to simply simplify is “generally known as ‘voluntary simplicity,’ or the ‘simplicity movement,’ the need many

Are You Living Life End To End Or And To And

Modern culture allows us to live in a way that keeps us not only physically busy but mentally and emotionally busy as well. I can remember growing up playing three different sports because each sport had its own season. There was a beginning to the season and an end. Today there is often a beginning, but rarely is there an end to any sport or activity.

When I was a child life offered us fewer choices. I had one video game: Pong. That was the extent of my video game choice. I couldn’t play my video game with friends from another country or even from around the corner. To me, the world was big and slow. As parents you and I were, in some ways, forced to live life end to end. Take a look at what could have been a typical parent schedule

How To No Your Family Boundaries

No, it’s not a typo in the title. “No’ing” where your boundaries are as a family most often consists of setting limits. Setting limits in today’s modern world of too many choices usually involves saying that little word “no.” A family boundary is something you set that indicates a healthy limit for your family.

Here are a few questions that represent the myriad of activities common to most families. Discuss these questions with your family and work on coming up with some healthy family boundaries:

  • How many sports can your child (or children)be involved in at one time?
  • How many times should your family have dinner together each week?
  • How much homework is appropriate each school day?
  • How many outside activities can your child (or children) be involved in at one time?
  • What time should I, as a parent, be home from work?
  • How much TV time is allowed each day?
  • How much computer or phone time is appropriate each day?

Feeding children a healthy life pace most definitely requires

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Top 20 Quotes On Work Life Balance

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If you haven’t read “From Hectic to Healthy: The Journey to a Balanced Life” here are the top 20 quotes that have been highlighted from others reading the e-versions of the book. I hope they are helpful.


1. You know you are overworking when a seven week small group study on life balance takes 14 weeks to finish.

2. Coming to the end of something is an opportunity to choose a new beginning. Pg 17

3. When you live life out of its correct season, life begins to SPIN. Pg 18

4. Sometimes we think Jesus is distant and detached when He is simply delaying. Pg 36

5. Can doing more good bring more bad? The unfortunate yet simple answer is yes. There is even a name for it, compassion fatigue. Pg 71

6. It seems like the majority of work environments these days reward employees who are the most out of balance. Pg 85

7. Stress may start in your mind, but it ends up in your body. Pg 91

8. I'm pretty sure we weren't designed to do it all. Pg 91

9. We shouldn't try to tackle every opportunity that comes our way. Pg 91

10. I wonder how many times I continued to beg God for things when the reality was that it was going to take a little work on my part. Pg 187

11. God ceased from His work because He saw that it was good and He was finished. Our problem is that we are rarely satisfied with “good,” and we have a tendency to think that nothing is ever “finished.” Pg 107

12. Most of us believe the word “Sabbath” is Hebrew for errands. It’s not. Pg 109

13. Here's some advice I wish I had given myself 10 years ago: “If you want to change the world, start at home and work out from there.” Pg 136

14. Pain was more prevalent than joy for quite a while in our life, but that doesn't mean we were meant to live in it. Pg 155

15. Mary and I have found that we need to view a balanced life not so much as a destination, but as a journey. Pg 155

16. The more you say yes, the more it leads to stress. Pg 158

17. Time doesn't stop while you try to decide how to take advantage of it. Pg 197

18. I used to say, “Go with the flow,” but in today's fast-paced and occasionally suffocating culture, that could mean we may drown in the current. Pg 112

19. How do you enjoy life when you are in the middle of difficulty? It's certainly not by looking at your surroundings. It's by looking beyond them. Pg 155

20. You never drift into the right place; you must paddle there. Pg 57

Do you have a good quote on work life balance? Would you like to share it?

Photo Credit: www.philipbloom.net