Most important question for a parent
I heard a metaphor once about how life is a juggling act. All the balls (commitments) are made of rubber EXCEPT your family! The ball that we juggle for family is made of glass. If the glass ball hits the ground… it shatters into thousands of pieces.
As a father and husband, the glass ball cannot be lost amidst juggling all the other rubber balls of life! The glass ball, FAMILY, simply cannot be dropped.
I was gifted a great book, The Family Board Meeting, providing wisdom on how to not drop the glass ball of family.
I think I found in this book the most important question for my life:
When was the last time you spent a whole day alone with your child, with no electronic distractions, while enjoying a fun activity and meaningful conversation?
This book sold me on the concept of having intentional meetings in the calendar with my family. Jaime writes, “Words can never convey what time and consistency can.” (33)
This book pushed me on the concept of taking my intentional, strategic approach to business (rubber ball) and apply it to my family (glass ball): “Taking the best parts of effective, consistent, focused, face-to-face meetings, and use them to connect with your children.” (39)
“Succeeding in your home life, like your professional life, requires more than just intention – it requires execution.” (24) The roadmap to execution is quite simple but requires discipline.
There are only 3 rules to the family board meetings: (occur every 90 days)
Be one-on-one with your child
Have no electronics
Do a fun activity of the child’s choosing, followed by focused reflection.
My oldest is 3.5 years old. We had our first board meeting last week. She asked me to go to her favorite restaurant for potatoes and a toothpick. We had it in the calendar and had every reason to cancel it because there was a blizzard that hit the day before. It was in the calendar, so we stuck to it!
I’m going to continue to work on improving my handling of my precious glass ball with Family Board meetings!
Onward,
Matt