All I want for Christmas
All I want for Christmas is…
Time with my Family Outdoors
Somewhere in recent history, the focus of the Christmas Season shifted from the true religious theme, to that of materialistic gift giving, courtesy of the retail industry and their tremendously effective marketing efforts. Many folks now approach the holidays with nervous anxiety and obsession over trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for each person on their list, most notably, their children.
While there is much joy in both gift giving, and for kids especially, the receiving of such gifts, the true memories are built around the time that we spend with our families. If you happen to be of the outdoor mindset, then often times the greatest memories are created through family adventures that are shared through outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing, hunting or camping.
Each of us can spend a great deal of time at retailers, or on line shopping sites, to ensure that we get the best bow, gun, fishing pole, hottest lure, or warmest sleeping bag for our kids to open on Christmas day. And while all of these are great gifts to have under the tree, they are of little to use to the recipient if we don’t set time aside throughout the year to use these generous offerings.
The wealthiest of folks amongst us, those with the most modest of means and everyone in between, is allotted the same amount of time for spending each and every day. And while it’s not so much the quick decisions to do something, that eat up our time, it is stressful over scheduling that erodes at any quality family time doing the things we love to do. Unfortunately, Americans have recently accepted frantic as an acceptable pace to live each and every day. We are especially guilty of piling so much on our children’s schedules that each parent is running in opposite directions to get each child to their events. If you throw in a third or fourth child, now we have to call in for back up to make sure each family member is accounted for and delivered and picked up on a timely schedule. And where I dare ask, is the quality family time in living this type of lifestyle.
There is constant conversation today, about how few kids are getting into outdoor recreation. And here is the plain and simple answer…the family is not setting aside time to spend together in the outdoors. Fishing, hunting, camping, canoeing trips are not making it onto the family calendar. If they do, they are so infrequent, it is difficult to build a solid interest level within your child to continue to pursue that sport.
Instead of scheduling travel hockey, travel soccer, travel baseball, that is typically focused on one child within the family, why not schedule just travel! How about travelling to a body of water that is new to your family to search for the memories that swim within it’s weedbeds? Or how about walking through that great looking stretch of woods that you always mean to stop and check out as it may be home to your child’s first deer, turkey, partridge or squirrel? And let’s not overlook all of the great state and national parks that patiently wait for your family to bring the camera and the S’mores. There is so much outdoors that is just yearning for your family!
‘NO’ is the key to family time
The key to spending more time with your family is the ability for the parents to say NO! NO to one more sport or structured youth activity. NO to volunteering for one more project at work or school. NO to having to attend to every household chore, so our homes are perfect, before we set out to do anything fun. Parents have the terrible habit of ‘YESSING’ themselves and their families into such tight schedules that we can’t even sit down together to eat dinner and discuss what is happening in each member of our families lives. I don’t see any benefit in living life at such a frenzied pace for the parent, the child or the relationships between each other.
The greatest gift we can give to our children is the gift of time together with them. All too soon, the weeks, the months, and the years of our children’s youth will slip on by and what will be the memories that we have to take from such a short, but awesome time in our lives. There are great memories to be made everytime we step outside as a family.
So this holiday, let’s make a family effort to give the gift of time, throughout the entirety of the year, and spend time with our family outdoors. As the entire family matures, and you are fishing with your adult children and your grandchildren, it will because of the family time we set aside to instill an interest in them while they were young.
Have an Absolutely Awesome Christmas Season and Create Great Family Outdoor Memories in the New Year!