Balancing work and family time

Learn about: Balancing work and family time from John Badalament, EdM,...
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Balancing work and family time

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One of the biggest challenges for any parent is balancing work and family life. And one thing I encourage dads to do is to build in what I call ritual dad time. And that is different than the daily rituals, eating meals together, or maybe walking or driving a child to school, reading at night. I'm talking about one-on-one time, ideally away from the home, once a month, and I encourage dads to try this for six months. One-on-one time is very important, so if you have a lot of kids, it's more time. But what it is, the important part of ritual dad time is making sure it's consistent, that your child knows that they're going to have this time with you every month, and put it on the calendar, however you need to communicate that. And that when you're together, it's really about just being together. It's not a time that you necessarily have to have a certain conversation; you can, but it's not pressure time. It's really doing what the child wants to do, within reason. And this is something that can be started from the very get-go, or it's something that I've seen a dad with a 17-year old daughter say to her, and it's harder with a teen, but he appealed to her by saying, "I would like to do this. I would like to spend time with you. One, because we used to spend so much time together and that next year you're going to be leaving the home." So it's something that dad asks of the child. And the result, in most cases, is that the child really comes to then view that time with dad as important and as special. And that's what ritual dad time is really about, is building it into your life. So that as crazy as things can get, you know and your child knows that you're gonna be together every month.

Learn about: Balancing work and family time from John Badalament, EdM,...

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John Badalament, EdM

Author & Educator

John Badalament, EdM, is the author of the acclaimed Modern Dad’s Dilemma: How To Stay Connected with Your Kids in a Rapidly Changing World and Director of the PBS documentary All Men Are Sons: Exploring The Legacy of Fatherhood. His work has been featured on ABC NewsNPR, in Men’s HealthPregnancy, The Los AngelesTimes, and on HuffingtonPost.com. He serves on the Honorary Board of the Ties Never Broken Campaign, a partnership with The White House. John is a Harvard-trained educator who speaks internationally to schools, parent groups and organizations. 

 

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