Family balance and a lifetime bond
Last week I was in Poland for my cousin’s wedding and I was away for only six days. At this time of the year we always get a bit away but this year was a different story – I had to leave my baby daughter behind because there was a lot of travelling involved to reach the wedding place. Although we used to talk to Josephine over the phone many times a day we missed her terribly to such an extent that we were counting the hours to come back.
When we came back my daughter’s reaction amazed me – she is not yet six months old and she reacted in frenzy not knowing how to express her happiness seeing her father and mother back. Whoever is reading this might ask why I am writing this – the reason is that after this experience I realised how much children even at such a young age need their
parents. No matter how much they are looked after and no matter how much love and care they are given by other relatives or carers - nobody and nothing can replace the parents.
In today’s hectic and fast world, parents have to spend most of the day out of the home leaving the children behind – this way of life is not an option but it is rather a must to meet the financial demands and burdens we all face. However, we are depriving our children of the most essential need of all – our presence. I was a firm believer of quality time but I think I was much mistaken and I am experiencing it. The big question however is how to spend more time at home and at the same time meet financial commitments we all have?
In today’s hectic and fast world, parents have to spend most of the day out of the home leaving the children behind – this way of life is not an option but it is rather a must to meet the financial demands and burdens we all face. However, we are depriving our children of the most essential need of all – our presence. I was a firm believer of quality time but I think I was much mistaken and I am experiencing it. The big question however is how to spend more time at home and at the same time meet financial commitments we all have?
Each and every Sunday at Church I hear sermons about family values and the need for parents to be always there for their children. All this is true but how can parents be always their when both have to work because otherwise they will not make ends meet at the end of the month – the situation is paradoxical and the way things are you cannot have both and so we tend to sacrifice family life because we take it for granted.
Balance between work and family is hard to achieve and that is why we must endeavour to have more family friendly measures in place. It is very easy to preach about family values and unity but preaching is not enough we need concrete actions and measures to alleviate the burdens our families are shouldering and give our children the love and attention they need – childhood is a crucial period and is the time to create a bond which lasts a lifetime.
©
2008 - Justyne Caruana
