Just Keep Them Busy

A few months ago I came across this article in the February Ensign "The Power of Early Preparation", by Ronald Errol Bartholomew. In this article he talks about the importance of feeding our children spiritually now. There was one quote that really stuck with me and I have quoted it several times,

"As a friend of mine once mused, “If I were the devil, I don’t think I could get to Latter-day Saints with any of the big sins. I think I would just keep them busy.”"

This really stood out to me because I find that happens too frequently in my house. And I'm not talking about the time outs that I take for my well being and sanity, like Bunco or my time at the gym. I'm talking about the time that is filled with mindless activities around the house that is eating up my time to be with my kids and teach them the importance of the gospel.

There's Facebook, Pinterest, Netflix, computers, XBox, Wii, Kindle, even games on my phone that my kids will beg me to play if there isn't anything else for them to do. We even turned off the satellite thinking that it would cut down on our tv watching, but I think the opposite has happened. We got Netflix which saved us a lot of money, but with on demand viewing there is an endless supply of shows we love to watch!

This ties into my last post as well, it's ironic that I spend a lot of my day pinning things on Pinterest that I imagine doing with my family, but at the end of the day I run out of time because of my mindless cyber surfing. And then, because I run out of time to do those things I think I am an inadequate mother, just like in the article that I linked to Wednesday.

It's a vicious cycle!

I realized a while back that Hannah, my 4th child, will most likely be going to Pre-School this fall, and I am missing out on her toddler years. That's mainly the reason I didn't get to post yesterday. I spent the day playing board games and hide and seek and snuggling on the couch watching whatever her little heart desired. I know these moments go by fast, but I don't want to look back on my life and have regret. I want my memories to be filled with simple fun, not how many cool things I found on the internet. Through this I know I will find those sweet moments to teach which will allow His Spirit to be in our home, and through that they will know the fullness of the gospel.