Family Day A Legacy

Here in Alberta the second Monday of February is designated a statutory holiday in name of Family.  For many years Albertans did not accept the holiday for what it was meant to be, honouring ones family and staying home with them.  Instead it was just another long weekend but in recent years the various big cities like Edmonton and Calgary have put on a large number of programs on this holiday to encourage families to be with their families.  I think that’s a good thing and I for one am thankful that Premier Getty took this initiative.

In our family there has long been a discussion on whether it was possible to turn back the clock for things such as Sunday shopping and mothers staying home once the children were born.  I can remember when I was 18 years old visiting Denmark for the first time I was simply appalled that all the stores (even the one big department store) closed at noon on Saturdays and did not open again until Monday morning.  The only shop open on Sunday was the bakery because Danes must have their Sunday buns and pastry.  In the mid 1980’s Alberta allowed Sunday shopping across the board and we thought it was great.  Today however we can see the toll Sunday shopping has taken on families as well as on income spending. 

As for women staying home I find this a very slippery slope as it seems unfair to deny women their full potential in education and career if that is what they want.  But there are many women who want neither higher education nor a career but because the societal economy now runs on the theory of a dual income family it is very difficult for families to live on one income.  So everyone is stuck at least from the economic standpoint.

The best solution to having a family life is to consciously make the effort to set boundaries around one’s time such as keeping at least one day on the weekend special for family time and as many nights as reasonable but at least one night as a family night.  I think about how my parents worked things out because even though my mother was a stay at home mom we only had one car so every Saturday morning Dad would drive her to do the weekly grocery shopping.  Then we’d always have a special lunch with fresh bread, open faced sandwiches and lots of talk.  Dad was always home on the weekend and always spent time talking with us kids, playing board games and when we were younger he frequently played rough house games with us. 

Today I hope families really spend time with each other and enjoy good quality time because it’s a memory legacy your children will have forever.