The Thing With Quality Time

“If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.”– Anonymous

“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it’s what you are expected to give — which is everything.”– Anonymous

“The best proof of love is trust.”– Dr. Joyce Brothers

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.”– H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Greater is he who acts from love than he who acts from fear.”– Simeon Ben Eleazar

“The love we give away is the only love we keep.”– Elbert Hubbard

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage.”– Lao-Tzu

“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”– Friedrich Nietzshe

“The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.”– Anais Nin

“Tell me who you love, and I’ll tell you who you are.”– Creole Proverb

“To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.”– Bertrand Russell

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”– Henry David Thoreau

“The first duty of love is to listen.”– Paul Tillich

“If so many men, so many minds, certainly so many hearts, so many kinds of love.”– Leo Tolstoy

 

“The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.” It’s funny how people seem to think that they have spent quality time with their kids after work by bringing them out to the mall for a lifeless and meaningless stroll only to come home with nothing more than a whole bunch of stuff that they (or the kids) don’t need. In fact, time has been wasted because kids don’t NEED you to bring them out to the shopping mall to waste time. They want and NEED to be with you.It’s really funny because I used to think taking my kids out for a very casual window-shopping trip was meaningful too until someone pointed out to me that my kids were STILL closer to someone else (their daycaregiver) when compared to me. I mean, what is it with kids, anyway? I take them out, don’t I? I try my best to give them whatever they want. I buy them presents, don’t I? They have more clothes than me, don’t they?

But here’s the sad part….that’s not quality time.

Quality time with your kids is just staying home with absolutely nothing to do, just lolling around on the carpet watching ‘Blue’s Clues’ or ‘Sesame Street’ together giving each other nonchalant kisses and exchanging hugs (and repeated reviews about the show). Spending quality time with the kids involve nothing more than just CONNECTING with the kids, not spending detached moments of dis-connectivity loitering through unfamiliar places. It’s about spending time connecting with the kids when you KNOW you’ve GOT SOMETHING ELSE BETTER TO DO.

I spent one whole Friday thinking about what to do with the kids on Saturday and Sunday and end up with nothing. So, on the weekends, we spent hours in front of the TV coloring bananas, gorillas, and calculator on pieces of paper. We, then, took the bicycle to the park and cycled around. Joshua got scrapes on his knees and Jared was more than unhappy with the fact that his big brother made more ‘sand castles’ in the park than he did – but we all came home knowing that we knew each other better.You see, spending quality time with the kids is all about getting to know your kids. Making an effort to be there for them when you know you CAN be doing something else with your life.

We know we can use that time to actually finish off the report or call that important client up – but the most important thing with quality time with kids is that we DON’T.

Written by Greg Frost

Greg Frost is a renowned NLP practitioner who has written numerous books on the subject of personal success and mastery. Purchase his award-winning Subliminal CDs, or his bestselling Mind Control Techniques and Photographic Memory program and experience why thousands of satisfied customers swear by his life-changing products.

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