Quality Time vs. Quantity Time
This is a totally unplanned and off-the-cuff post, but our pastor said something this morning that, in my opinion, was so profound, and it so completely captured one of the main reasons we homeschool that I just had to make a printable of it for our homeschool area to match the one I made for the Mother Teresa quote the other day. And then, of course, I wanted to share it with you! He said that the idea of quality time vs. quantity time is a myth, and that he believes that “quality time is an accident that happens while spending quantity time with someone.” I just love that! I’ve been pondering it all day, and it’s so true.
It also fits so well with our Season of Thanksgiving! Just yesterday, I posted on Mommynificent how I have yet to come across a culture in which people celebrate their harvest festival or Thanksgiving alone. Thanksgiving is always a time of togetherness, of just being together. A festival of quantity time! And if you think over the Thanksgivings you’ve experienced, I bet that, in the midst of all that quantity time, there were a lot of “accidental quality time moments,” more often referred to as memories!
Would you like to join us for Thanksgiving season? Here are all the posts in this series so far:
- Introductory posts from Mommynificent and Desperate Homeschoolers
- A Canadian Thanksgiving with a free printable of Psalm 9:1 (over at Mommynificent)
- Helping Kids Learn to Pray for Others with a free printable of 1 Chronicles 29:14 (over at Mommynificent)
- 5 Ideas to Engage Kids in Praying for the World (over at One Fun Mom)
- A Love Letter to the World with a free Mother Teresa quote printable
- Togetherness at Thanksgiving (over at Mommynificent)
- Quality Time vs. Quantity Time with a free printable
- A Malaysian Thanksgiving with a free printable of Psalm 50:23 in multiple languages (coming soon over at Mommynificent!)
- A Grenadian Thanksgiving, guest-written by my friend Sarah who is currently living in Grenada and coming soon to Mommynificent. I’m super excited about this one as I didn’t even know Grenada had their own Thanksgiving! I can hardly wait to read her post. You can get to know Sarah on her blog, sarahfaithhansen.com.
You can join our Facebook communities, Mommynificent and Desperate Homeschoolers, to keep up with our Thanksgiving season happenings! You can also subscribe to receive free emails from Mommynificent and Desperate Homeschoolers in your inbox so you don’t miss a post.
Finally, please share about this series by pinning, sharing on Facebook and Twitter, and linking back to this post! You are welcome to grab the button and share the inspiration!
What a beautiful thought! And it is so needed in our culture!
We all desire QUALITY time with others, yet don’t give QUANTITY. We try to shove quality into a ‘sacrificial’ few minutes, walking away disappointed because our expectations are dashed in our rush to other things.
IF only we’d slow down, enjoy each opportunity of “together” as gifts of special moments.
I think we’d find “accidents” of quality tucked away in those times.
And what a dimension of QUALITY the gift would be if we considered more time, a QUANTITY of time with our very best FRIEND, the Lord Jesus, through His precious WORD, the Bible.
Thanks for the reminder!
Just recalled another surprise when spending time with children. It’s a treat to hear what they remember of time together and often, they surprise me with what I missed, something I took for granted, did out of necessity, or did without much thought, yet, it meant QUALITY to them and when they recall the memory, it spills out with such love!
Hey Tina,
Wonderful! You should link this post up in my homeschool link up! I put the URL under the website heading. Time is something I so often take for granted. I have so little of it. Thanks for the reminder. My baby reminds me frequently when I am furiously blogging and he comes over and tries to shut my laptop. He wants me to spend time with him.
No matter what I’m doing, I stop and make sure I play/hold and love all the kids.
Thank also for the free printable!
Thanks, Lisa! I’m glad you like it. I didn’t know about your homeschool link up, so I’ll definitely be checking that out! Thanks for the invite!