Recently our family escaped out of town for the weekend to let loose at a water park. What a blast! We had not a care in the world, except to decide which ride to do next. We flipped on tubes, careened down slides, sloshed through tunnels, and trudged up hills carrying large tubes just to go down and do it all again. With how much fun the water park provided, there was something even better that stuck with me — our long conversations we had over the weekend. Priceless! We came back from that weekend with new plans to take more frequent mini-weekend trips as a family.

Typically society’s pace doesn’t afford us large amounts of leisure time to catch up with our family, or hear our children’s passions and interests. Instead, we flip over pages of to-do lists, careen down our daily schedules, slosh through life’s demands, and trudge up hills carrying our over-commitment only to wake up the next day and do it all over again. We don’t plan to spend our time that way, but life crowds in and before we know it, pressures dictate our schedules.

As I was reflecting on our weekend yesterday, I ran across a New York Times articles, Breakfast Can Wait. The Day’s First Stop is Online. It addressed the changing times of text messages, cell phones, social networking and email and how such lures interfere with family time and communication.

I couldn’t get the article out of my mind. Maybe it bothered me so much because our treasured weekend was fresh on mind. Or perhaps it reminded me of how I can be pulled away from my own family to check or write a few emails. Whichever the case, I’ve found myself re-reading the article and reflecting on what lures me away from my top priorities.

There is no doubt — family weekend escapes are invaluable. But more importantly, how do we spend our time during the week? It’s in our daily routine that our priorities are tested. So are we ready to let loose? It may not be at a water park, but let’s decide what can wait and what is first. Then have some great family time!

Recently I did something I resisted for a long time. I joined Facebook … but with reservations.

I understand the appeal — catch up with long lost friends, bring everyone up to speed on your life all when you have free time, share photographs in one convenient place, business networking, exposure to a cause, along with many others.

It’s not that I have anything against social networking, but I’m just one of these people that would rather have a more personable one-on-one conversation or a more involved face-to-face discussion with people. Time also plays a huge part in my qualms about joining. There are only 24 hours in a day and I can’t do everything. I know firsthand how things can suck you in and before you know it, your intended goals fall off your radar and you are spending time doing something else.

One example began about three years ago. I joined an online writing website with the goal to get feedback on my writing. I got my free membership and posted some of my work. Before long, I upgraded my membership to maintain an ongoing journal book that others could read and comment on as well. I met other writers and my circle of writer friends got larger.

Before long, I spent much time each day reading and commenting about their daily happenings and writing daily entries about mine. I couldn’t wait to log on to see my comments from my cyber friends and soon, there was little or no time left for me to do any actual writing. That venue became my distraction, not an added benefit to my goal. After about a year, I decided I needed to quit my membership to focus once again on my writing.

Society offers many distractions to lure us from our goals. Some distractions are good at the right times and in the right dosage. Other distractions can threaten to derail us if left unchecked.

Plugged In Online (an entertainment resource put out by Focus on the Family) sends out regular emails. Yesterday’s email boasted a headline, “Facebook: A Turbulent Romance in Four Acts.” Intrigued due to my own thoughts and feelings on the social networking subject, I read the article. It was humorous but truthful. It gave great food for thought.

As parents, are we teaching our children conflict resolution in real life? Do our children know how to manage their real-life friendships without a click of a button? Is more time spent with a laptop, than face-to-face interactions?

I’m not saying we all need to deactivate our social networking memberships, but one thing is certain — time is valuable. Once it’s used, it’s gone. But how we use our time, lingers for a lifetime.

Some days I wonder if my husband and I are the only ones who struggle in a certain area as parents. Or I wonder if our approach on a topic is the best. Or if other parents experience the same ups and downs in this parental journey as we do.

It’s easy to feel like you’re the only one, isn’t it? Typically when we talk with other adults, we do not first swap stories of our child’s bad days, their attitude woes, or our parenting tactics.

Instead, we come to conclusions of our parenting skills by watching other children and compare them to our own. Junior doesn’t act like that, so we’re doing good. How come our daughter doesn’t sleep through the night yet? Suzie’s daughter did once she hit three-months old. Their son is so well-behaved, what are we doing wrong? Our daughter doesn’t care to go to college … but her friend is planning on graduate school. Where did we mess up?

We all have fallen into the compare trap. But the truth is, we all struggle as parents wondering if our skills and tactics are on the right track or if we could do better. Sometimes we find ourselves swimming in circles baffled in the seas of a difficult situation. We’re not alone.

My daughter recently asked how I can write for parents when I’m not a perfect parent. She was a little fearful of offending me. I wasn’t offended. I’ve never claimed to be a perfect parent and honestly, I don’t strive for flawlessness. It’s unachievable — I’m not God. However, I do strive to be the best parent I can be in every situation.

Sometimes being the best parent is teaching our children that we mess up too and it’s okay to pick ourselves back up and start again. Sometimes being the best parent is allowing our children to watch how we work through our own struggles. Sometimes being the best parent means we apologize for our wrong behavior and ask for forgiveness.

Our children watch what we do, and are less likely to listen to what we say. As they hit adolescence, that fact becomes even clearer. It’s shown me how important my actions are. How I can influence my daughter simply by how I live my life. And I recognize what life lessons I can teach her, by me living out those lessons each day.

No, I’m not a perfect parent. I mess up. I often apologize for raising my voice when I ask my daughter not to do the same. I get grouchy when I’m tired and hungry. I struggle.

I’m also relentless in my desire to teach our daughter the value of authenticity in everything we do. It’s a virtue too often overlooked.