I don’t get time away from life, my family, work etc. very often, so when I do, I try to take advantage of it as best I can.  And for the longest time, I struggled with the concept of time away from my kids, because I thought that I was being a bad parent, but I realized that I was wrong.

This past weekend, I took a few days off from work and went down to my family farm and worked. It was really hard saying goodbye to the boys last Thursday morning and I assured them that I would be back on Sunday and that if they were good, I would bring them a surprise. The struggle that I had, was that I was leaving them. But I was leaving them exhausted and burned out. Not from them, but from a lot of other factors in my life. I was leaving them with my wife, who has never had them alone by herself for 4 days at a time, doing it all.

My life, revolves 100% around my kids. Plain and simple. But a lot of things had been building up for me and I just needed a little time away. I needed time to clear my head, focus on somethings and plan somethings out. This time away, allowed me to hop on the tractor and just drive and think and more importantly, I didn’t have any interruptions. No one pulling on my leg, no one emailing me (I don’t have cell service at the farm), no one lining up outside my door asking me questions or needing me to fix a problem. I just had time to think.

But one of the biggest and most glaring realizations that I had, was that time away isn’t bad. In fact, it is rather healthy. It was good that my wife had them for several days and could hopefully appreciate all that I do when she travels. It was great to see the expressions on my kids faces when I got back yesterday. And it gave me time to come to peace with somethings.

So parents, if you get the chance, take a little time away for yourselves, you’ll be better parents for it in the long run.