• for children, love is spelled T.I.M.E.
• children need quantity time as well as quality time
• significance of first eighteen months of a child's life
• who will be our child's main caregiver?
It can be hard to work out balance of parenting and employment
• working at home/from home
• full-time/part-time
• the time we spend with our children is more powerful in communicating our love than anything we say
We need to prioritize our time
• learning when to said "yes" to our children and "no" to other people and things
• the only place we are indispensable is at home
• we need to plan our time
• time with the people who are most precious to us doesn't just happen
• if married, plan marriage time" each week
• as a parent, plan "family time" each week
• plan some one-to-one time with each child (we will look at this in detail later in the course)
We need to protect our time from:
• the TV
• the telephone
• other people
• our work
Question: What demands on your time stop you from spending time with your children?
Home is a place where teenagers learn how to build healthy relationships.
Teenagers learn to relate through observing adult relationships
If parenting together, invest in your relationship (take our marriage course!)
If parenting on your own, build the best relationship you can with the other parent, when possible
Nurture other adult friendships
Mealtimes together – teenagers learn to talk, listen, debate issues, and respect others’ views
Regular family time – having fun together ias a family helps build relationships between parents and children and between siblings (consider having a weekly “family night”)
How can you intentionally model healthy relationships with others in your life, for your teenager to learn from?