There are so many distractions! We all say that our family—our kids and our marriages—are our highest priority, but so many other things—responsibilities, social engagements, church callings, entertainment, friends—all crowd into our lives and soak up our time and attention.
The urgent takes over from the important.
Perhaps the biggest distraction of all—the thing that takes over our attention and almost holds us hostage—is technology. Our devices, our social media, our FOMO, our following of blogs, and all the rest of it just sucks away our focus and our concentration from the thing that needs us most and that is the most important to us—our families!
We’ve all seen it (we’ve all done it)…a child is asking a question or trying to get the attention of his mom who is brushing him off and saying “not now” or “just a minute” while she scrolls through the screen on her smartphone. Sometimes we need to (like a drill sergeant in the military) just scream “ATTENTION!” to ourselves and get our minds back on our marriage and our children.
There are really only two ways to stop our devices from distracting us. One is to get rid of them (pretty dramatic solution) and the other is to go more often to pro-family web pages or blogs or social media—sites that make us more rather than less aware of our families and their needs. We recommend this website (valuesparenting.com), blogs like 71toes.com or drippingwithpassion.blogspot.com, family information sites like ifstudies.org, and social media like Instagram @richardlindaeyre.
For more on making technology draw your attention to rather than away from your family: