A small group of Putting Family First people have been busy over the last several months building a partnership with area faith communities. Representatives from 11 area faith communities will attend their first action meeting on September 24, 2002. All the representatives, on invitation from their clergy, attended a launching workshop held over the summer to acquaint them with the work of Putting Family First and our plan to expand the conversation in our community. The workshop proved to be a wonderful opportunity to explore the personal stories and share concern for our families struggling to find balance in a frantic, over sheduled world.

This project began in the Spring, when all of the clergy serving people in the Wayzata school district area, were invited to information meetings about Putting Family First. Those attending saw the need for a community wide commitment to take on this issue effectively and agreed to find lay leaders in their faith communities to work with us. Their role will be to have one foot in the community organization, Putting Family First as citizens and the other in their faith communities as leaders, championing the Putting Family First movement. These lay leader representatives will be gathering together for monthly meetings. We hope that together we can share best practices with each other, develop strategies together to further the conversation in the Wayzata area and in the process support each other in having a family life that works.

Posted by Gina at 8/29/2002 09:58:53 AM | Link

I came across a kindred organization, The Shalom Center. This group is tackling the problem of lack of free time. To quote its leader, Rabbi Arthur Waskow:

"Three years ago, The Shalom Center brought together a multi-religious group to explore the isues of overwork and the lack of time for rest, spiritual reflection, family, and community in America. The group came to the conviction that many of the major problems in environmental and social policy and in the weakening of volunteer grass-roots citizen action stem from the constriction of free time in American society."

Posted by Bill at 8/20/2002 10:01:33 AM | Link

Sent to us by Kevin J. Kervick, M.S., LMFT:
"The Pennridge, Pennsylvania, Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth 40 Assets Coalition launched a Scheduling Our Kids Lives task force that was created because many folks concluded that it was difficult for youth to build developmental assets in the frenzied pace of contemporary family life. Youth were complaining that they were so over-involved in sports, clubs, church, and other things that there was little time left for just "hanging" with family or doing other valued things. They were often forced to compromise among competing priorities, thus feeling perpetually unsatisfied. And their parents, many feeling guilty that they were not doing enough, were on the verge of emotional and physical exhaustion.

The task force met formally two times, the first a panel of community representatives from the various sectors responsible for youth socialization and a large group of interested parents and other community stakeholders. There was a doctor, several educators, a minister, an adolescent mental health person, the 40 Assets community mobilizer, a sports association representative, and of course youth on the panel. The panel discussion yielded some interesting dialogue about some of the community priorities and highlighted the over-scheduling problem.

At the second meeting, a smaller subset of the first group met to operationalize the problem areas and create an action plan that is in the process of being compiled. At a follow-up meeting the group with approve a final action plan which will be disseminated to the community at large in order to secure voluntary participation in concrete steps that the group hopes will address the problem and help more folks put family life first."

Thank you Kevin!

Posted by Susan at 8/19/2002 11:31:27 AM | Link

"I've seen 12-year olds burn out on competition because Mom and Dad are pushing them five nights a week and they don't have time to be kids."

Read Wednesday's Star Tribune article (no longer online) for the full story.

Posted by Susan at 8/14/2002 09:45:51 PM | Link

A mother in California told me about her and her husband's decision not to re-enroll their 11 year old son in Little League because the schedule had gotten too much for the family. When she told a friend this at a grocery store, the startled friend replied, "Can you do that?" It seems that many parents view the "next step up" in sports and other activities as inevitable and even compulsory, just like next developmental steps in school. It's as if the 11 year old's mother had said they were not going to enroll their son in middle school next year. That would produce an understandable "Can you do that?" We have come to think of ourselves as depriving our children of something essential to their welfare if we say "enough" to certain extracurricular activities.

Posted by Bill at 8/08/2002 11:28:24 AM | Link

A Teen Relationship study by Families Northwest in Washington state, based on a random poll, found that 53 percent of teens believe that "more time to spend with (their) mother" would improve the quality of their lives. They won't tell their mothers that, but they will tell the poll interviewer! This is consistent with other findings from surveys of teens. More research tidbits later. I am just learning to weblog!

Posted by Bill at 8/06/2002 08:38:02 PM | Link

True learning requires time: time to wonder, time to pause, time to look closely, time to share, time to pay attention to what is most important.

In this article, author Chip Wood reports that given time to experience school without constant hurry and to be deeply involved in the learning moment, children steadily gain a sense of perspective as well as a sense of competence, significance, and order in their lives.

Posted by Susan at 8/05/2002 10:16:30 AM | Link