I am a proud father of three amazing kids and I love being a Dad! With that being said, being a father has also been one of the most demanding and frustrating experiences of my life! I get so frustrated with their immaturity and choices sometimes. Recently my nine year old daughter clogged a sink downstairs turned the water on and left! She said it was an accident when she flooded the basement. Fortunately, the overflowing sink was discovered before any real damage was done. But boy was that a frustrating mess to clean up!
But probably the most frustration I face as a parent is with myself. I feel so inadequate as a parent and get extremely disappointed when I lose my temper or patience with my kids. I think my biggest disappointment is when I look back at all of the times when I got lazy or distracted and completely disengaged as a parent.
My biggest temptation that causes disengagement is technology. I have such a love/hate relationship with technology. I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 3. I have DirectTV and a flat panel TV. I am quite fond of these devices but yet get so frustrated at the disconnection that they can create with the living, breathing humans that fill my home and whom I love so much.
Recently after watching TV with my kids for an entire summer evening when the weather outside was beautiful, I decided I had to do something drastic. I disconnected the TV and hid it! The next day everyone wanted to know what happened to the TV. I told them that the TV was on vacation. There was a lot of crying and frustrated, dramatic statements at full volume! Good grief you would have thought that I killed their puppy!
The next day at a garage sale I found and old kiddy record player and several dozen records that I bought for for $2! I was pleasantly surprised at how much my kids fell in love with this thing. They thanked me several times for this new found treasure. But the statement that about gave me a heart attack was when my 9 year old daughter (the aforementioned daughter who flooded the basement) said "Thanks Dad for sending the TV on vacation!" Incredulously, I said "Why?" She said, "because when the TV is gone I spend a lot more time with my family." And then she said something that really nailed me to the wall. "Watching TV isn't really spending time with your family!" Out of the mouths of babes!
I have no idea how long this "TV on vacation" thing will work with my family, but I challenge you to try it with your family. Needless to say I am pleasantly surprised with the results so far!
God's word says in James that our lives are like a mist that quickly fades away. I continually wrestle with how to make the most of my life! Sometimes instead of blindly following our culture we need to take a moment and examine where this swiftly flowing river of culture is taking us to!
Maybe we need to unplug for a moment now and then to be able to ask ourselves some hard questions! I know it is a struggle for me to do this but every time I do, I am so glad I did!
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