Tuesday, April 24, 2018

The Value of the "Home Day"

I love people, and I love discovering new and exciting places. I love attending events and getting to meet random people and strike up completely random conversations with them. I love getting out to see the world, and if I stay at home for a huge amount of time, I grow antsy.

However, I still make "home days" a priority. Our world is just too busy, and I hate how this has become not just socially acceptable, but normal. We seem to constantly need something that keeps us dashing from one place to another. The "lazy day at home" is becoming a bit of a rarity as activities, work, and outings take precedence. You'd think that stay-at-home moms would be an exception to this trend, but I've found that this is not the case. I cannot count how many conversations I've had in the past several months where another mom has said to me, We just have to get out because my kid can't stay at home. 

As someone with a very active toddler, I can somewhat feel this sentiment. When we had several days of bitterly cold and icy weather last winter, I didn't feel like leaving the warmth of the house and my son became a bit fidgety. I've found that we need to physically leave the house for a change of scenery (and to let out his energy) daily. However, I refuse to let us get swept up in the current of our busy culture. How do I try to find a peaceful middle ground? Through the "home day." 



On a "home day," we center our activities in and around the home. We don't have to physically stay inside the living room all day, but we try not to stray too far from our dwelling. On "home days," we seek to connect more with each other in our home and with our neighbors and friends in the community. We take walks in our neighborhood, go over to a neighbor's house, chase ducks in the neighborhood park, run around in the backyard, sit in the front yard and blow bubbles, make "mud cakes" next to the driveway, play and read books inside, have picnics in our yard, work on cleaning projects that I've been trying to ignore, and make special foods in the kitchen. 

"Home days" are a time to relax and refresh ourselves. They are a time for us to truly live in our home. Sometimes, other parents tell me that they "need" to go all around town because their kids get "bored" at home. Bored at home? Is this a good thing? If not, couldn't we try to fight against this by helping our kids see that life at home does not have to be boring? 

As families are driven apart more and more into separate spheres of existence through the variety of activities that occupy our time, I think we need to reclaim our time at home. Time to be with our families and to grow in our love and relationship. Time to meet our neighbors and learn how to love them better. Time to recharge and read that book we've been putting off because we "have no time to read." Time to learn that home does not have to be "boring," but that it can be a wondrous place of refreshment that is full of the tiny adventures which make up ordinary life. 

Each "home day" will look different from week to week and from family to family. As the needs of a family change and develop over time, so too the "home day" will alter. Currently, I've found that marking off two days each workweek as designated "home days" gives us a good balance of eventful planned activities and relaxing time in our neighborhood and at home. For some families (especially those with older kids who have more structured activities), only one day a week may work. Perhaps other families have activities scheduled every day and can't opt out of any of them, in which case they could consider designating a "home morning" or "home afternoon" a few times each week. Maybe a family has so much on their plate that they can only observe one or two designated "home days" a month. Whatever the case, whatever the frequency, I encourage you to just try it. Stay at home with the intention to refresh and nourish your life and your little "domestic church." 

Observing the "home day" requires sacrifices. It means opting out of some activities and saying no to certain opportunities. It means planning and scheduling that shopping trip so that you're not continually running to the grocery store. It means turning off the noise of life and daring to face ourselves and see who we really are, what we're really like, when we're not absorbed with the noisiness of travelling from activity to activity.  Yet, even though achieving a "home day" comes through sacrifice and may not feel comfortable, I've found that creating this space and time to linger with my family and neighbors is worth it. Let's fight for some peace in our homes and families, one "home day" at a time. 

5 comments:

  1. Great post! Even though I don't have a family yet, this is relatable. I love getting out and about, but sometimes it's just exhausting. I like to be home and not have the pressure to go anywhere on some days, and just to "be." "Home days" are so important in this crazy world we live in!

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I think it's great you recognize the importance of stepping out of the chaos of life-when I was single, I made myself way too busy and it wasn't until I got married that I began to realize that I needed to have "home days" and bring some more peace into my life.

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  2. I loved this post! Simply being content with the ordinary is a lost art - but so much beauty and life stem from it! Thanks for this great reminder :)

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Elisabeth! I agree; being content with the day-to-day ordinary life is becoming a lost art. I am so hopeful, though, as I hear about so many people who are trying to reclaim their time as a family and at home :)

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  3. I treasure times when we can all be at home as a family together--and they can be hard to find, sometimes, with work days throughout the week, Saturdays for Awana club at church, and then Sundays at church and then youth group. I feel like I actively do try to not get overly involved in additional outside schedules because I don't want an overly scheduled life...and still there's something going on 7 days a week. Funny how that happens.

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