There is a difference between spontaneity and chaos—it took me a few years of family life to really understand this difference. Having led a reasonably orderly life prior to having children, the immediate chaos of life with kids was a bit overwhelming. Scheduling and organization became my best friends as I struggled to get control of my new life. However, over the years, I’ve learned that balance is a good thing and even the most organized families need some spontaneity for good measure.
The other night, my middle daughter and I were heading downtown for a free community concert. Halfway there, we started talking about movies and completely changed our minds—we ended up at the cinema multi-plex instead. In the course of just a few minutes we went from anticipating the local bands to purchasing our big tub of popcorn and heading into see a movie. The spontaneity was invigorating and it reminded me that getting outside the box and being open to life’s treats is definitely a good thing. After all, I know all too well that life with children flies by.
While many of us equate spontaneity with play, it doesn’t have to be about playfulness or silliness—deciding to take dinner to the park and have a picnic, or spend a morning cleaning the garage instead of going shopping are both ways to spice things up with different sorts of spontaneity. Breaking out of the run and routine of daily life can be just the thing to inject some new perspective and remind us that family life is supposed to be pleasurable and joyous in addition to its other more structured purposes. This doesn’t mean we have to give up on our schedules and routines—these do serve a very valuable purpose—but balancing spontaneity in there too makes for a rich, fulfilling family life!
See Also: Laughter Really is the Best Medicine and Using Play to Get Your Own Way