Family Time

My family has three main rules that we were taught growing up. They were to have fun, pray before everything, and take care of everyone. My parents did a really good job on making sure that we knew the importance of taking care of each other and how when we follow that rule, it is much easier to follow the others. We can take care of each other by praying for them and we will have more fun as we make sure that everyone else is having fun. All in all, I have learned that life is better when we go through it together.

My parents taught us the value of building strong relationships as a family from a young age. Although I cannot recall a time when they told us this, they gave us many opportunities to learn this for ourselves.

One of the ways that my parents provided us with opportunities to grow closer is by making sure that we supported each other in our hobbies. A big part of my childhood was spent going to my siblings sporting events. It didn’t matter how far away a game was, my parents were almost always there and they brought us kids along. It was important that we were there to cheer our siblings on.

My parents also had us share rooms. As a kid, I did not like this. My sister Gentry (the one I shared a room with) and I fought a lot. We argued over the silliest things. Although when we were young, it may not have seemed as if it was beneficial (at least from our perspective), I can see now how sharing a room helped us to have a good relationship now. Our room was also right next to our other siblings’ rooms. All of my siblings and I and close, and we still spend a lot of time together now even though we are all older. I think that this is partly because of the opportunity that we had to share rooms.

These were some of the things that my mom and dad did to help us to strengthen our relationship as siblings, but they also did a great job in providing us opportunities to create a close relationship with them.

Growing up, my dad had a fulltime job that was outside of the home. Because he was gone the majority of the day, it could have been hard for us to get close to him. Despite his full-time job, I have a great relationship with my dad.

I have many wonderful memories of me gardening with my dad, making steak, salad, and fries together when it was his turn for dinner, and going on daddy-daughter dates.

Although my mom was home the most, I still was able to become close with my dad. This didn’t happen by chance. My dad had to put forth the effort to take these opportunities to spend time with us.  

Life can get busy and it can be easy to skip out on the little details of life. Take time for your family. Laugh together, play together, and work together. Create family traditions. These are the things that really matter in life. The love that you can experience in a family is far more valuable than any big house or sports car.