The Family Board Meeting: You Have 18 Summers To Create Lasting Connection With Your Children by Jim Sheils - HTML preview

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THE QUESTION

Here’s a simple way to know if you’ve been spending quality time with your kids. Simply answer this question:

 

When was the last time you spent a whole day alone with your child, with no electronic distractions, while enjoying a fun activity and meaningful conversation?

 

It sounds simple, but if you're like most busy parents, you will answer that you can't remember a single time.

Yes, you read that right—a single time.

I've seen world-beating executives and tough-as-nails contractors tear up over that one little question on our retreat questionnaire.

They get emotional because reading this question is the moment they first understand the difference between time and quality time. And it's the moment they realize they've been depriving their kids, and themselves, of the one thing they need most. At that moment, they realize that, in spite of their best efforts, they don’t have the answers. It's the moment they begin to grasp the con- sequences that quality time impoverishment is creating.

It’s also the moment when they are confronted with a deeper question—the most important one they’ll ever have to answer:

What is more important, your work or your children?

 

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