Time

My son is five years old.

I’m busy. Life gets in the way. Work is always there, another conference call, another task, just one more email.

It never stops. It’s easy to keep going, to tell yourself that an extra couple of hours in the evening will make a difference.

But then my son sits there waiting. 

“Will you play with me now daddy?”

No, not right now. I need to take care of this thing that’s really urgent. 

Right now I’m a key figure in his life, and all he wants to do is spend time with me. He’s not asking for much.

One of his favorite times of the day (at least on days when he’s home from school) are the few minutes I can disconnect and play with him. 

It’s almost instant, his eyes light up when I tell him I can now play with him. 

How do I make sure I don’t miss this? How do I make sure I’ll be there for this? 

It’s hard. It’s a struggle. I want to spend time with him, and yet so many other things beckon for attention. 

What I’ve finally realized in recent months is that a daily habit is more important than grand gestures every few months.

Spending a few minutes in the evening, right before bed, is one of the easiest ways to make sure we can connect and do something together.

This is so easy, and I need to do it more.

I write this more as a note to myself. 

Today we spent 15 minutes playing a game together on the iPad. It’s not ideal, but it’s time together, and he loved every moment of it.