Grow up fast
There was a time when work-life balance was such a hot topic and we were aware the need of it.
As teachers, we are guilty of spending more time to nurture other children than our own children.
We can be great teachers but we may not be great parents at home.
We advise parents what to do with their children at home but we may be guilty of the same issue at home too.
Below is a short video about an impatient young working mother who recapped her childhood and learn to treasure the time with her son.
This short article is simply my reflection to raise awareness of the need to spend time with our children.
Busy at work
As an educator, I am guilty of bringing home my school work since there is really limited time for me to complete the various administrative work as well as marking my students’ work.
We have not even taken into account about the time needed to plan our lessons for effective teaching and learning.
Just last Friday evening, the head of level told me that she would need my help to craft the Risk Assessment form as my level is going for an outdoor learning journey this coming week.
This is really last minute as the Risk Assessment is usually done within 7 days before the learning journey. We would need the approvals from both the Risk Assessment officer and the school leader. All these would take time.
I believe you can imagine how I felt. It was probably given to me as I am usually quite efficient in the things that I do.
In the video, the frustrated young mother, Grace, shouted at her son when her son wanted to spend time with her before bedtime but she was too busy with her work at home.
After shouting at her son, she felt guilty and went into the room to spend some time with her son.
When her son fell asleep, she spoke to her own mum about her desire for her son to grow up fast so that she could have her own free time again.
I do feel guilty when I do not have the quality time to teach my own children at home since there are always plenty of things to keep me busy.
I believe this is not just my personal issue as I know many teachers, who are parents in my school, also face the same issue.
Taking time out to spend quality time with our own children takes determination.
Grow up fast
In the video, Grace mentioned about her desire to have her son to grow up fast.
When she sat with her own mum, they looked back to the past of her childhood and how fast time flew without her knowing it.
Her mum told the young mum that she might have held her mum's hand for a moment when she was a child but she held her mother’s heart for a lifetime.
Our children can never stay young forever and they may leave us to set up their own families in future.
My older son, who is a teenager now, does not need my time as he would rather spend it with his girlfriend.
When our children are still young, it is the time for us to build lasting memories.
When our children become working adults, they would be too busy with their work. When they are free, they may just want to have time for themselves rather than to spend time with us.
The busy work cycle can be from generations to generations so the effort we make to spend time with our children can be an impact to them as parents themselves in the future.
When can we be free to spend time with our own children?
Is it to wait for our retirement?
By then, they do not need our time anymore and it is too late to bring the past time back.
In conclusion
Writing this article is a great reminder for myself about the time that I should have with my son.
I am still guilty as I am always busy in writing articles to post in steemit rather than spending time with my son.
I guess we really need to consider how we can balance steemit, our day job and our family time.
Really appreciate that you took time to read to the end and I hope the video as well as this article has started to get you to reflect about your time with your child.
Disclaimer: This is my personal reflection and I am not in any position to instruct anyone what they should do. I am not responsible for any action taken as a result of this post. My post can only be a reference for your further research and growth. By reading this post, you acknowledge and accept that. All images and pictures were taken from google images that are free from copyright under labelled for reuse.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://fun2learn.vornix.blog/2018/11/05/grow-up-fast/
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Hello, @fun2learn, excellent reflection of the video, this is the reality that we are all teachers, and if not all are majority, we work more than our workload, we are overwhelmed by so much work, losing the time we have. To spend next to our family. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for making the effort to read and comment.