Yesterday at lunch, my wife laid down the challenge. She drew the line in the sand. She called me out. She told me I need to do a better job of unplugging when I get home from work.
I guess live tweeting dinner has to stop. I guess checking Facebook every 10 seconds as if Andy Stanley was going to finally send me that Friend Request is no longer acceptable. I guess posting selfies to Instagram like it’s my J O B needs to come to an end. I guess checking email like I’m expecting the President to ask me my opinion on ObamaCare must cease.
But you know what, she’s right. I don’t completely unplug when I get home from work. I am often distracted when my wife and kids need my attention the most. I do allow the sound my phone makes when I get a new follower on Twitter to come before the needs of my family. And it’s time to stop.
So, I’m going to do it. No, really. I am. When I get home from work each evening until the kids go to bed, I’m going to be completely unplugged. I’m not going to be a slave to technology any longer.
Why?
Because my family deserves it. My wife needs my help with the kids when I get home. As a stay at home mom, she is with them all day. She looks forward to the time when I get home so I can give her a break. When I walk in the door from the garage, it is daddy time. And she needs me to take the kids and play with them and let her have some down time.
Because my kids deserve it. My kids are 6, 4, and 2. They need my attention in these formative years. They want to tell me about their day. They want to play with me. They want to and deserve to get the best of daddy. I believe that a dad’s role in the life of his children is as important as the mom’s role…and there are certain things that only a dad can teach his children (just the same as there are only certain things a mom can teach her children).
Because I deserve it. I spend my entire day thinking about and doing work. It is consuming and overwhelming all at the same time. I need to disconnect from that for a period of time every day. If I don’t disconnect, then I become cranky, stressed and tired. Unplugging from technology will allow me the opportunity to be the 2 most important things that God has called me to be: husband and father.
[ctt tweet=”If I don’t disconnect, then I become cranky, stressed and tired.” coverup=”mPr2L”]Are you with me? Will you take the Unplugged Challenge with me? I would love for you to comment below and let me know that you’re with me!
I am in! Noticed in the last few weeks how much calmer the night is if I turn the ringer off and check my phone only occasionally!! Now to get my teens and twenty’s to understand the house phone works for a reason!
Great! Thanks for jumping in Jennifer! Keep me posted on how it’s going for you!!
I turned my FB and emails notifications off my phone… it’s wonderful! Don’t have to keep listening to the beeping sound every ten minutes and I can just check messages at the end of the day.
That’s great Nohemi! Thanks for sharing!!! I need to do that too!