Family Time is worth more than money!
So in this Lemons to Lemonade series, I’m going to cover how to maximize your Family Time with the kids. In particular, I’m going to describe how we turned the sports our kids are in, from Lemons to Lemonade!
First, let me say that Family Time with your kids is worth more than money! It’s something that most of us don’t realize until much later in life, so experience and enjoy it as much as you can. It’s something you can’t buy more of later with money!!!
A friend told my wife that she doesn’t let her kids play sports because she cherishes their family time too much.
This got my wife to think about family time and if sports like soccer was gobbling up too much valuable family time…
She came to the conclusion that it wasn’t and here are the reasons why:
- Watching and rooting for you kids in sports is great for the entire family. And it give our kids a confidence boost knowing that the family (including grandparents, aunts and uncles) came out to support them.
- We have 2 kids, so while one is out, we interact with the other one. Sometimes, when my son is on the bench for a rotation, we’ll practices soccer stuff with my daughter, and of course vice versa. Often we have a good time because it gets silly . This time is enjoyed by all of us!
- The driving time is practically forced time for the kids to interact with us socially. Both my wife and I really enjoy the chats in the car when driving the kids to their games!
- We interact with other parents, and they’ll cheer our kids on (and we cheer their kids on too). As a kid, I would think it’s extra exciting hearing non-family members cheer for you!
- Many times, we’ll go out to eat after the games, especially on longer, away games. This is a treat for us all, in addition to the extra family time we experience.
So the lemons to lemonade process that we accomplished with the kid’s soccer games is to take an activity that could be considered a chore (Mom’s taxi service, etc), and converted it into an excellent opportunity for quality family time!
Often I find that it only takes a little to change a negative to a positive.
Do you have any lemon to lemonade stories that you would like to share?
-MR
Did you like this kind of story, if so, check out my first in the “Lemon to Lemonade” series: Lemons to Lemonade Series #1 – Long Commute Drives
Also, related to this Lemon to Lemonade series is my guest post on Cash Flow Sherpas called: Saving Money and Time With Audiobooks!
Babci time with my kids can be boring for them…unless they’re eating her chicken soup, which they love.
Anyway, we kill two birds with one stone by going to yardsales together. It gives my husband some alone time, and we all love going to yardsales. I’ll usually buy my kids a toy for $1 each. Yeah, we accumulate a lot of toys and last week we came back with a bowling ball ?, but we do resell or give the toys to friends anyway. It’s been great bonding for us. There aren’t too many things that a 77, 37, 5 and 2 year old can enjoy at the same time, and this is one of them.
That sounds like a great plan!!!
We went to garage sales and bought most of my son’s rescue heros that way. Too bad they are worthless now… I had hoped to sell them on ebay…
I do agree. Money can be replaced, but family time must be cherished. It’s very important that we keep our priorities straight, which means people are more important than materialism.
Yeah, I just wished I got more on film. Some day, someone will invest an all time recorder that is always recording the family 🙂
this is a great post that addresses a core issue many aspiring entrepreneurs run into. i am a big advocate of starting a side gig in parallel with the full time job to get more out of life, and this post addresses one of the factors stopping many from pulling the trigger. one way to achieve that balance is by leveraging activities commonly enjoyed by everyone in the family and spending more time on those, so that family time becomes inherent in the routine “fun stuff” that families do. there are many other ways to balance as well, but it does come down to the individual’s decision and priorities as stated in this post.
I know what you mean. I’ll do my day job or blog from a chair in the living room as the kids and my wife watch TV.
That way I’m partially there, which is better than not being there at all…
I like it! When I was a kid, my parents would quiz me with math problems which I enjoyed. My mom and I also sang alot – this probably started my love for karaoke, lol. 🙂
Sounds like a fun car ride!
Mostly, we try to convince the kids to talk to as while the multitask by playing the DS and talking to us.
I don’t worry about how sports detracts from family time. We support the kids, the kids support their siblings, the family is all together- it is all good. Also, the ride home from some of the high school sports games is great for my son and I to connect. I remember that more than the game.
Also, when the kids are sick, I make sure it isn’t a bummer. I bake cookies, we watch movies, play games, whatever. The house is a mess, but who cares? It is another great way to spend time with the kiddos, even though being sick can be no fun.
Wow, that sounds like a great way to make a negative a positive!
I just hope the kids don’t try to play sick to enjoy time with mom! lol.
You sound like you have a great family
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