The Newfound Interest in Family Time

I live in a town where there are many family parks, playgrounds and state funded preserves. I often drive past these locations and most times I never notice them being used. My youngest child brought to my attention that we have not gone to a park in a long time, to quote "Daddy, it's been forever since I've seen a duck", her commentary on time and the existential nature of duck watching did get me thinking of stopping by a park sometime soon, if only to get her to see a duck. So I packed up the minivan and the brood on my day off and visited one such park with my family and to my surprise it was full, and not just kids or teenagers, but other whole families using the playgrounds, the BBQ areas, having picnics, in short, WOW.

Recently there has been a noticeable increase in the use of these locations by the community. I spoke with some of the other patents and people using the park, and found that many people are getting tired of the "stay at home and watch television" or "Video Game Time" sentiment, and are looking to find things to do. With the economy being as it is, taking trips or going to big theaters when you have a large family is not financially possible, but visiting small local playhouses, days at the park or even window shopping walks through the mall are becoming interesting and you can see more people doing this. Parents need to be more involved with their kids, just as much as kids need to know their parents, so what better way than to actually spend time together and just be.

The average person will spend 1/3 of their day involved with television, computers or other digital distractions, in this time they will find hours upon hours of things to do and come away feeling like nothing has been achieved, I know because this has happened to me, but if a person can break away for just one day for the hypnotic allure of technology, they can find that the other person in the room may have something interesting to say. I find in a period of time where we have social networks and email and internet with all of its abilities to find and reconnect with old friends or build networks with people, it has made us more disconnected, we spend so much time "chatting" and "texting" that we don't talk to each other. Other people have come to this conclusion as well and are making time to go out and see the world we live in. as human beings, we are social by nature, and our need for connection with others must be acknowledged.

I invite you to come outside and play, bring family and friends and make a day of it. An adventure to the park is a great day out and costs no more than the time to walk to the park. This is also a valid reason to get some exercise, or stop at the ice cream shop on the way home or the café for a cool beverage on a hot day; you pick the reason to get to know your spouse, kids, and friends, whomever you want.