Children spell “Love” -T.I.M.E.

Recently I decided to start a social media challenge. I’m calling it: #NoSocialMediaSunday. As the hashtag suggests, this means I am doing my best (and inviting others!) to refrain from checking social media on Sundays. It’s not that I think anyone who posts or scrolls through social media on Sunday is bad, it is just that I personally felt I wanted to make an effort to unplug. I settled on Sunday for a few of the following reasons:

• The obvious reason for me is that Sunday is “the Lord’s day,” i.e. the day most people go to Church, and the day I feel like the Lord gifts to us to remind us in the crazy ‘busy-ness” what life is truly all about.
• We (my husband and I) had already decided we wanted no video games or TV (outside of sports!) on Sunday, in an effort to “unplug” our children for a day.
• For us, Sunday is “Family Day.” We rarely have events like sports or extracurriculars on Sundays (and with 5 kids, our weekly activities/sports schedule is CRAZY!), so having Sunday set aside is just another way to be present in this small moment in time while my kids are growing.

The list could go on but what I really wanted to share is what this challenge made room for this past Sunday. I was waiting in the car as my hubby ran into “the big boy toy store” (Home Depot!). I was sitting there with kiddos, some happy, some unhappy about waiting in the car. I REALLY wanted to just get lost in my instagram feed but I resisted because it was Sunday morning and I wanted to last a little longer on my challenge LOL!

So instead I reached for this book that I keep in my car for when I have a spare quiet moment (because let’s face it, I am a mom and “quiet moments” only really happen when all my kids are strapped in the car! #AMIRIGHT?) The book is filled with short chapters, about 3 pages each, and it is written by a mom who I feel I can ALWAYS relate to. I mean, she wrote this book broken up into small stories that a mom can truly appreciate because that’s about all we have time for some days!

The chapter was titled “Children Spell LOVE -T.I.M.E.” I am sure you can guess what it was about. Much of my mom guilt is spent laying in bed regretting how busy I was and questioning whether or not I spent enough time with each of my 5 children that day.

Don’t get me wrong and interpret this to mean that our lives as mothers should be completely centered upon being our child’s playmate. I DON’T think that. There are things that need to get done, and my kids are GREAT at entertaining themselves and playing together without mommy. I DO think there can be a healthy balance. Each situation is different.

I know that for me personally, that phrase, “children spell love, T-I-M-E,” echoed in my mind all day today. It reminded me more than once to put my phone down and be present. I said yes to playing at the park with my little guy, “sure, I would love a sandwich!” I really listened when my daughter came up to tell me something about the ladybug she found. I went down the slide. I PUT. MY. PHONE. DOWN!

Loving my child can mean a lot of things. It’s the sacrifice of sleep to tend to a sick little one. It’s sharing that last bite of something you actually wanted to eat! It’s bathing, feeding, clothing, and caring for– but it is also sometimes just as simple as TIME.

*this post contains an affiliate link that you can decide to use or not to support our blog.