How to Take Back Your Weekends

Peaceful weekends are extinct. Workdays now bleed over onto the weekend, blurring the lines between home and work.

Once upon a time weekends were meant for rest and relaxation. They were a definite change of pace between Friday and Monday. Now the once peaceful weekend has become nothing more than an extension of the week.

Family gatherings, time and activities are the authors of the weekend crunch. What can you do to put more fun and less work in the weekend? Try setting absolutes, erasing lists, getting away, and making the most of real weekend opportunities.

Setting Weekend Absolutes

Set absolutes that are not negotiable. If attending church on Sunday morning is important, make church attendance a role. If family movie time on Saturday night is important, make it an absolute. If time alone on the weekends is important, make it an absolute. Do not fill the weekend with rules. Do determine what weekend activities are important to you or your family and take charge of seeing that those activities aren't corrupted or interrupted.

Erasing the Lists

Map out list free time. Don't fill every waking moment with errands and to-dos. Often people get so caught up in the 'usual' that they forget they are the ones in charge of time. Time is not in charge of you unless you allow it to be.

Taking Back Control

If you've allowed the weekend to keep getting more and more crowded with activities and responsibilities, take a moment to step back and take a fresh look. Your children are not going to suffer if they actually spend time at home on weekends. Survival doesn't ordinarily depend on attending every available activity or doing what everyone else is doing.

Getting Away

Even if you cannot afford to go more than a few miles down the road to a lake or park, get away. Leave the cellphone and other technology gadgets at home. Spend time alone recharging spirit and soul or time alone with immediate family members without distractions and interruptions.

Dating Again

While parents can often benefit from date time away from children, childless couples also benefit from date time. Use the weekend to rekindle and strengthen the romantic bond.

Sharing Sunday Dinner as a Family

Whether your immediate family consists of two or twenty, sit down together for Sunday dinner. Several different research studies have shown that eating meals together is one of the best things families can do. Families who eat meals together tend to be stronger, communicate better and have better relationships.

Making the Most of Necessary Drive Time

If you cannot avoid driving to and from activities on the weekend, make the most of the drive time. Many parents find drive time interesting because children forget your presence at the wheel and freely discuss things that matter to them. Some parents (and grandparents) like drive time because they are presented with a captive audience.

If you have no weekends, you have no one to blame but yourself. Workaholics often fail to realize, until it's too late, that the habit of giving up weekends is an easy one to establish and a difficult one to break. Worse, there usually is no relevant and measurable change in productivity and output. One thing worse than working every weekend is finding it really hasn't resulted in gained ground.

If you knew that the next weekend was going to be your last one on earth, would you spend it as you have been or would you make drastic changes? Think about it. Sooner or later, the next weekend will be your last.