Number 3: Busyness
“The participation in numerous activities crowding out quality family fellowship.”
One bag for soccer. One more bag for Tae Kwon Do. Another for swimming, and then there’s baseball and choir practice.
Our closets.. and our calendars.. are bursting.
Many parents are faced with a unique problem in human history — too much of a good thing. Opportunities to participate in children’s sports leagues, the arts, church activities, neighborhood organizations, and more have never been greater.
However, the temptation to “overdo it,” can have drastic implications — poor eating habits, little time in unscheduled play for small children, less time together for parents or as a family, and the increased stress of making it to another lesson, practice, or meeting.
The number 3 topic facing today’s family, as expressed by individuals from a range of backgrounds, is “Busyness.”
Resources Guide - Busyness
Part of the Series: Top 10 Issues Facing Today’s Family…
Comments from survey participants
We’re too busy to spend time with God. Consequently, we don’t know God who God is which means we don’t know who we are. We then try to establish our value ourselves through fame or fortune which causes us to be too busy. (See the circle?) Of course, this means our children grow up emotionally starved because mom and dad are too busy proving their worth to be sacrificial enough to meet the needs of their children. So, the children grow up with a need to meet those needs and fall into the busy lifestyle trap also.
This is, of course, a generalization and an oversimplification. Many children at our church school are dropped off at 7am and picked up at 6pm. They then are rushed to do sports and music lessons. Grocery shopping and errands still have to be done also. From the time they’re six weeks old, many children have a different caregiver every year. We’ve seen first graders who don’t react at all when they’re separated from their parents for a week of camp. Many caregivers herd the children from one activity to the next without creating a relationship with them. Children are starving for an adult who loves them, who will listen to them, and who will hold them. Parents don’t know what to do with their children because they rarely spend extended time with them. I’ve met parents who need babysitters during the family vacation, to grocery shop, and, of course, to go to church. We need people in our country who are brave enough to have less things and give more time to God and their families.
G. R.
Stockbridge, GA
