Wokingahm Word article - October 2010
A Good Investment? ...
Where do you invest? In property, stocks and shares, high-interest savings accounts?
As I looked around my sitting room last Christmas I saw a picture of the 21st-century family; one child on an MP3 player, another on a laptop, a third on a games console and a fourth on a PC. Not one of them is speaking to another and not one of them is speaking to us! My plans for quality time together - playing games, walking in the snow, having leisurely meals around the table - were spoilt by modern technology, but have I only got myself to blame?
In this material day and age it seems that we, as parents, are quick to invest money on gadgets and gizmos for our children but are not so quick to invest quality time to listen and learn about their lives, their concerns or their school work. Then we wonder why we are the last to know that they are struggling with homework, friendship issues … or worse. It’s easier to tell a child to go and watch a DVD than to listen, empathise and understand their world.
My biggest wish for family life is to ‘go back to basics’. Switch the TV off, even if it’s only for one evening a week, eat together as a family and tell each other your news. Spend time together and get to know each other again. Surely that’s a better investment than hand-held technology? Families don’t need to be upgraded, they don’t get superseded by the ‘next best thing’ but maybe they need to be re-booted from time-to-time?
Quality time invested makes relationships flourish. In order for our relationship with God to flourish we need to give him our time – surely that HAS to be a good investment?
A member of St. Sebastian's Church on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham