The next time the man was in the store, the clerk asked him how his cat was. He replied, "She's dead."
The clerk scolded, "I told you that you shouldn't have given her a bath in laundry detergent!"
He responded, "The soap didn't kill her. It was the spin cycle."
So it is with many of us and modern life. The "spin cycle" of our hectic pace is about to kill us. It's hard on families too.
In a recent syndicated newspaper column, John Rosemond, a family psychologist, wrote of the "Frantic Family Syndrome"--the result of parents racing children to and from various extra curricular activities. The reason they do this is so that children can be educated in specific skills (sports, music, etc), He points out to parents "that if their children grow up with lots of different skills, but lack strength of character and family values their skills won't amount to a hill of beans. It's character that makes the difference in life, and character develops courtesy of an apprenticeship in a loving, relaxed family. Unfortunately, too many children these days are growing up in the back seats of their parents' cars, talking to the backs of their parents' heads and eating fast food while on the run from one largely irrelevant activity to another."
Rosemond also pointed out that a recent study revealed that more National Honor Society students reported growing up in families that ate most evening meals together more than any other single variable.
Watch out for that spin cycle!
©1996 C. David Hess