Time Is Gold, We think time is gold especially when we spend time with our families

A woman in her fifties goes to see the doctor to get the result of her medical checkup and is told that she has nine months to live. The woman is at a loss for words by the unexpected result. This is a scene from a viral video. Actually, the nine months given her to live are not the time she can live, but the time she can spend with her family. Assuming that human lifespan is eighty-five years, the remaining time for a fifty-three-year-old housewife is thirty-two years. If you think about the time for work, time for sleep, time for TV or smartphone, and the time for herself, the time she has for her family is just nine months.

Modern people say, “I’m busy,” all the time. They are busy because they finish work late, because they are tired, because they have a lot of things to do . . . People just run forward without having any relaxing time to spend with their families. In many companies and government offices, employees are encouraged to spend time with their families after work, but it is still a long way ahead. In reality, the time for the family is pushed last by this and that.

The time spent with the family and the happiness index are inseparable. The common characteristic of the countries with high happiness indexes is that they regard the time with their families as important. This is a prerequisite for a happy family.

Love is to make time

What are the gifts that children want to have most on Children’s Day? A game console, a smartphone, or pocket money? According to the survey done by a job experience theme park company in Korea in 2015, the No. 1 answer was “time with their parents.” Children prefer having time with the whole family to expensive gifts.

Dr. David Walsh, a psychologist, said that parents should increase the time spent with their child twofold and cut the money spent for the child in half. It is because a materialistic gift gives momentary joy, while a happy time spent with the family lasts for a long time. It is related to the event where one elementary school in the U.S. declared in 2016 that it would not give homework to the students from the new semester. Their reason was that simple homework does not help children as much as the time spent with their families does. They asked the students to spend more time at home with their families and build a bond instead of doing homework.

“It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.”

This is what the fox said to the little prince in the novel The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry. If you have an interest and affection for something, it is natural to spend time with it. Just as there is an expression, “Love is to make time,” to spend time with the family is a definite way to relay the message, “I have an interest and affection for my family, and I am happy when we are together.”

Time’s quality is more important than its amount

Although people say they spend time with their families on the weekends, but in reality, they either sleep or watch TV in many cases. The purpose of family time is to form a bond of sympathy and build fellowship. So even if you are physically in one space, if you do different things, how can a bond of sympathy and fellowship get formed?

What is more important than the amount of time is its quality. You have to do something together to spend time with your family more meaningfully. If you look carefully, you will find many things that you can do with your family instead of just sitting in front of the TV. It is good to do together what your family is all interested in, and it is also good to make a goal together and carry it out. It doesn’t have to be something big. Whether it is going for a walk, exercising, hiking, playing a game, cleaning, or cooking, it just needs to be something you can do together. If you prepare a party all by yourself, it may feel like a difficult assignment. However, if you do it together with your family, it can become a good memory.

What you need to keep in mind here though is that you should make the time happy so that your family can remember the time they spent together as a happy time. If you get angry while teaching your family member how to drive, or if you criticize them while teaching them how to make cookies, you will ruin your precious time and it will end up as a bad memory.

The time spent with the family is important because the family is important. Treat your precious family with care, and focus on them when spending time together instead of watching TV or using smartphones or computer.

Happy memories support you to overcome trials

“You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home. People talk to you a great deal about your education, but some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man carries such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days.”

This is a quote that Dostoevsky, a great Russian writer, left in his book, The Brothers Karamazov. In fact, a research has proved that even a simple activity like having a meal together with family can reduce juvenile delinquency. A local police department, too, reported that taking a family photo for the families suffering from domestic violence reduced violence in the family.

People who feel joy when spending time with their families do not depend on games, the Internet, or drugs. A good memory with your family is like a vaccine that keeps your home healthy.

A company went bankrupt, and the CEO of the company and his family moved to a small rented house. However, the CEO’s family still lived in harmony despite the difficult situation. The secret was the “game of memories.” As they talked about their good old memories, they realized that many good things happened to them, and they felt how precious each other was.

Place pictures and items that contain memories of your family in various parts of your house and think of those happy memories. The happy memories, which are piled up one by one while laughing and sharing joy together, fertilize your mind and support you to overcome trials while living in the world.

“I promise to spend time with you on a holiday later for sure,” “I have an appointment with my friend today” . . . You need to see if you are not postponing spending time with your family for this and that reason. You may think your families will always be with you. But the time given to you is limited. The time you can be a good son or daughter and the time the children need help from the parents are not that long. While you are letting time pass, thinking, ‘We are family. We can be together at any time,’ that “any time” might never come.

Even if you are busy, make time for your family, and share happiness. Every moment of your life must be important, but the happy moments you have with your family are even more precious and important.