Shaping Families

I knocked on an Amish family's door this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Mother, father, and the three boys were all inside. The boys had just arrived home from school.

What are the chances of that happening? It would almost surely have not happened in our household. It reminded me of my youth.

I grew up on a farm. Before big tractors and irrigation the pace of life was certainly slower. Every Friday evening and nearly every Sunday afternoon was devoted to visiting. Many Saturday nights also were devoted to leisure activities. When irrigation arrived on the scene leisure time took a big hit. Rather than visiting on Friday evening, we irrigated until dark.

Initially the irrigation wells were turned off but that did not last long. To maximize the investment made in irrigation equipment, Sundays were soon included in the irrigation schedule.  That meant Sunday afternoons were devoted to work rather than visitation. To make ends meet financially, acreage's soon increased. This required even more hours of farm work.

In the community where I grew up, formal visiting doesn't happen much except within families any more.

True, leisure is defined differently today than it once was. Television has taken the place of activities such as visiting. So has browsing the Internet and Facebook activities. But there is no doubt that the time given to leisure activities has dipped precipitously.

When our family assembles the times remembered most affectionately are clearly linked to leisure activities. These were the times we were able to give our children our complete attention. It's unfortunate that our contemporary lives have so little time for leisure activities.