iparenting & relationships

Are you an iParent? Have you ever had thoughts of taping your partner’s phone to your forehead to get their attention? If you have at least a smart phone, Children or a spouse, read on...

Most of us are guilty of spending too much time hunched over our screens and smart phones and failing to concentrate on what matters most; our family. 

Are we giving our children the focus they need and deserve? Not only could you be lonely, but the Children and your partner are missing out on the importance of family time and developing their relationships with us. We are modelling terrible habits which will be hard to break as Children get older.  We only have ourselves to blame.

​With the advances of technology there is no escape and it’s all too easy to have a device literally living next to us every second of the day, only to switch it off at 11.00pm when we go to sleep and often it’s the first thing we look at in the morning (before our partner – you know it’s true!)  We have a lot to thank modern technology for, but there are huge limitations, on our lives.  As the technology gets better and smaller…let’s think about what’s important first!

Hands Up!

Hands up who remembers sitting in front of the television without a screen in hand?  It’s become so much a part of our being we have forgotten life before technology.  It was bad enough when we just had computers and laptops but invariably we would put them away at the end of the day or leave them at work – now, we are permanently connected.  It is hard to put our all into anything because of that darned phone pinging and buzzing at regular intervals and distracting concentration!  I know I do it. Do you remember sitting through a TV programme all the way through or enjoy dinner at home (or in a restaurant) with the family without referring to your phone at some point.  Hopefully this article will remind you to stop and take stock of what you’ve got right in front of you (and it’s not a screen displaying your emails or level 323 of Candy Crush!). Put your hands up, and wrap them around someone your love instead!

Parenthood and Happiness

Being attentive and engaging with your partner or playing lego, dolls, pretend games and ball with the Children can actually be quite a drag sometimes. Have you read the research that Parenthood doesn't necessarily bring happiness? It's not about that. Parenthood is a powerful source of meaning and purpose. According to Hugh McKay (2013), “...because it calls for a high degree of self-sacrifice, it is often associated with low levels of ‘happiness’ in the popular meaning of that term”. Contemporary research shows however what ancient wisdom tried, that we gain far more through expressing our fundamental humanity through giving and not taking and contributing to others. That’s certainly a great description of Parenthood if ever there was one!

So what do we do?  Read on....

Read More