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Creating this kind of home environment takes balance. There are several simple strategies that women can use.
Create a calendar:
Having a calendar to record important events for you, your spouse, and children can be a helpful tool. You can use it to keep track of practices, upcoming appointments, date night with your hubby and other important events. Suggestions are:
- Use a different color for each member in the family’s activities
- Laminate blank calendars so that you are able to reuse them
- Post two months at a time for long term planning purposes
- Place the calendar where it is visible on a daily basis for everyone to see
- Show your children how to use the calendar to keep up with important events
Plan your meals
Many parents waste a great deal of their time just trying to figure out what to cook for dinner! By the time you realize what you want to cook, cook the dinner, and eat, it is often later than you want it to be. Or you may realize that you do not have all the necessary ingredients, which may lead to unnecessary spending on ordering out or buying fast food. Try planning your meals for the week on the weekends. You may also want to include planning for your lunches as well as your dinners. When planning, you are able to also create your shopping list at that time to ensure that you have everything you need for the meals before you begin. This way, when you know you are going to cook pork chops the next day, you can go ahead and prepare the meat the night before. When you come home, most of the work is already complete and you have more time for spending with your family. By using this strategy you are able to plan healthier meals and are able to try new recipes your whole family will enjoy!
Set a schedule
Do your children have a routine for completing their homework, preparing for Bible study, or getting ready for school? If not, consider creating one that works for you and them, but that will also allow your child to be responsible for fulfilling the routine requirements and be part of the process success. A routine also helps to cut back on the time that is added to rushing as a result of work not being completed. Should bookbags be packed the night before and placed by the door? Or clothes picked out and ironed for the week on Saturday? Do you want housework to be completed on Saturday mornings? Most importantly do what works for your home and family.
Have dinner as a family/Communicate
Preparing dinner is a wonderful way of spending time with your spouse or your children. A wonderful way of teaching children how to cook is by allowing them to assist in simple ways. Using dinner time is a fantastic way to spend time together as a family. During this time turn the TV off, don’t answer the phone, and just enjoy being together. This is a great time to talk and listen to each other talk about their day or use it as a way of fellowshipping together. Just because one of the children finishes early, you can still choose to keep him/her at the table just to participate in the conversation. This time is not just about savoring a meal, but learning to take time to appreciate the day and the importance of valuing each other as a family.
Allow yourself and your spouse down time
After a day of working, serving, being available for your children, it is important for you and/or your spouse to have some quiet time, or down time. Down time varies for different people. For some men, it is playing the video games or watching the Monday night football. Some women may enjoy a nice bubble bath, reading a book, or just propping their feet up after a long day. Either way, allowing each person to have some time to transition is important. Before beginning this strategy, it is important to talk to each other about your expectations and ideas of down time. This may help to prevent any miscommunications or misconceptions on how this could work for the both of you.
Pray
I cannot stress how important it is to pray together as a family. When we pray with our children, we are being examples for them outside of the church walls and showing them how to have an ongoing relationship with God built into our every day lives. There is always a good time for prayer. Be led of God and do what works for your family. Ways to include prayer time into your family day are:
- Before the children go to school, take the time to join together to prayer and anoint your children for their day
- Before beginning homework so that your children will have clarity of mind and patience needed to complete their work
- Before practices or rehearsals for a safe, effective and enjoyable practice
- Before going to Bible Study or any church gathering, that their hearts would be open to hear the Voice of God.
Being a wife, a mother, a minister or friend is a blessing from God. None of these positions is meant to be daunting, rather each is designed to be an addition to life, filled with unspeakable joy. Taking the time to make some minor changes can result in reaping significant gains for you, your spouse and your family.
Minister Mamie L. Pack has always had an appreciation and love for the written word which eventually resulted in her obtaining a BA in English. Who knew that this love would eventually blend with a passion for educating tomorrow’s youth? This new found passion would lead her to obtaining a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Divergent Learning. Along this journey, she accepted her call in ministry and became a minister of the gospel of Christ. As a wife, mother, educator, daughter, friend, Minister Mamie L. Pack, seeks to be an accessible tool to the Lord. It is her desire to use her gifting of writing to reach the lost, encourage the believer, and teach the people through the Word of Jesus Christ. For other writings by the author visit http://lifeinowlive.blogspot.com or to view books by the author, visit www.ogramsupport.com
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