Family

Making Time For Your Family

by: Catherine Trebble

When it comes to your new career plan, you may find you have even less time for yourself and your family-especially if you have to continue to work while you are pursuing the new goals you have set for yourself. So in order to help balance things out, you may need to get creative.

Just as you will be working out a daily to-do list when it comes to working on your career plan and scheduling those things on your calendar, you will also want to schedule specific times to spend with your family.

When it comes to your loved ones it's not always about the quantity of time you spend with them but more about the quality. If you have reserved some time to be with a child or other special person, make sure you are fully present for them. Make the time all about them, and do what they would love to do rather than what you want to do. What most people want to know is that they are loved and cared about. So if you work many hours at a job each day or are spending time working on your new career plan or studying for a new qualification to get you closer to your career goals, there are things you can that will help your family to know you are thinking about them and that you care.

One thing you can do is to take time to call your spouse each and every day. No matter how busy you are, you should never be too busy to take a few minutes out of your day to pick up the phone and see how your spouse's day is going. Make sure the purpose of the phone call is simply to say hello and let your spouse know you are thinking of him. Don't complain or vent any frustrations you have about your day to him. Instead, make the phone call all about him.

Another thing you can do is write little love notes every now and then and put them somewhere where he will find them. If you want to take things further, send him a special gift or arrange a date night just for the two of you. I guarantee it will make your man feel very loved.

If you have children who attend daycare or school while you are working, write them a little note or draw them a picture before you leave for work and put it somewhere in their backpack or lunch box where you know they will find it. If you are able to call them or send them a text message, then do so each and every day so that they know you are thinking about them.

If you have children, weeknights can offer very little time together. But little things like helping them with their homework and asking them about their day goes a long way. Just make sure you don't stop there. Take time to play a little game, like Simon Says or I Spy. Sit and read a book with them. Pick them up and spin them around, play hide and seek, tickle them and hug them, even blow raspberries on their bellies. Kids love this kind of attention and it helps communicate your love for them.

It's little things like these that go a long way in communicating to your loved ones that they are important to you. Even though you have to be away from them for many hours at a time, putting extra effort into letting them know they are in your mind and in your heart will help them to feel you are still with them even when you are not there.

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