When was the last time you spent some quality time with your family? Did you have to think about it? I can admit that I certainly did. So when was the last time my entire crew was together? Perhaps it was dinner on Sunday night. Oh wait, we all took the dog for a walk on Monday afternoon, maybe that was it. My sister came over with her little people a few days ago… but my youngest was at dance. The truth is, not only can I not exactly remember the last time we were all together, but after I do the math, I realize this family of mine hasn’t been spending very much time together at all.
Do you ever feel like you’re being pulled in a 100 different directions, like there aren’t enough hours in the day? It turns out, on average, Canadian families spend only 14% of their time together doing all kinds of activities. The people at Leon’s, they wanted to know more. So they created an intriguing social experiment. An experiment designed to track family time spent together.
Meet the Ahluwalia Family
It’s been said that in the family home, the living room is a central location for gathering and spending quality family time together. So Leon’s created Project Smart Furniture as an experiment to make this family more aware of the time they spent together, so they could make the most of it. They put a centralized “family-time hotspot” in a couch to track family time since this was an integral part of this family’s living space. How cool is that!
They then tracked the families movements and created this video.
Warning; it will make you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTx_LunGNGU
It should be noted that the time tracked for this commercial was based on time spent near the living room and does not account for total time spent together outside of the centralized space. But the message is clear. We all need to be tracking, cherishing, making time for what is most important to us. Our family. And with effort, and small changes in our lifestyle, wonderful things can happen. We can be rewarded with more quality time with the one’s we love most.
To see all of the results from this unique experiment be sure to visit Project Smart Furniture and talk about the results with your family!
This video was a bit of a wake-up call for me. One of my favourite sayings has always been, “We only get 18 summers with our kids“. I’m the Mother of two teen girls and one of those girls will be headed off to University this fall. THIS fall. Suddenly, this saying of mine, it’s hitting home rather hard. I thought I was making the most of my summers, my time. But now? A new thought; I’m fantastic at making the most of those 2 summer months, but have I been doing my best with the other 10? Suddenly I’m feeling the crunch, the pressure, the need to make the most of family time in every way possible. I don’t want to miss a moment with my girls. How will I make a change? A change that will result in more quality time with my family.
Project Smart Furniture has made me realize if I can schedule time to work. Create space on the calendar for conference calls. Squeeze in coffee dates and lunches with girlfriends. Even make sure the laundry gets done. Then I can certainly schedule more family time. It’s time to not just think about putting the family first, but to put that thought into action. It’s time to officially put family movie night on the calendar. Have a date night with my kids. Bring back game night…even if that means playing games that are a little out of my comfort zone or adding a bunch of extra teenagers to the mix. I don’t want my full story to be “Mom was too busy, the house was always clean and the laundry was done”. I want our story to be time well spent…together. Having fun. Learning and laughing, having adventures and making memories.
The balance of work, life family can be achieved, family can and should always came first. Perhaps it’s time to create my own social experiment. Off to re-work that calendar. Thanks Project Smart Furniture!
To find out more about Project Smart Furniture be sure to check out their site, and as always you can find out about everything that’s new at Leons Furniture on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosure: This was a sponsored post but as always all thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog remain my own.
What a unique idea. I know I need to focus more on family time.
I love the way this project helped me to hone in and focus on my own family. So smart!
My family is my brother and his wife and kids and they live in another province. So family days are very few amd far between. I wish I could see them more often.
It’s hard when family is far away. I hope you get to see them again soon!
Thank you. Me too. ☺
We have a great family day on Sat shopping or swimming
That sounds like a great way to spend Family Day 🙂
My furniture looks awful, 3 kids and a dog. Need I say more LOL
It tells me you get to spend a lot of time together 🙂
This would be really great for my husband. He loves to spend time with us but work gets in the way sometimes.
The Smart Furniture Project is such a great way to see the numbers, when we see them in black and white it’s so relatable!
HOW TIME FLIES AND IT’S SUMMER MARCH AGAIN AND SO NICE TO DO THINGS TOGETHER
I was so happy to be introduced to this video. It’s a great reminder to spend more time together!
omg wow !!! I actually never stopped to think like you. only 18 summers. it is interesting to look at it like that eh? and that time just flies. We could definitely spend more time together (doing things together) instead of doing our own separate things
I know. 18 summers and so much more time we can start carving out in between! One day we will be bored and lonely, but for now I want to enjoy the noise of my loud house. 🙂
We used to just do our own thing and then it hit me too that we don’t have that many years left to spend together. Now we watch shows we enjoy together and play a ton of games. So much fun!
Oh I love to hear this! There is such sweetness in time spent with family and it’s so worth the effort.
That is really cool. I never thought about how furniture and layout of a house can influence family time!
It’s amazing how this family is making a change.
I wish I realized years ago how fast it would go by, my teens are teenagers & I wish I had stopped to enjoy it more!
I recently became a Grandma & when I look at her I can’t help but think…why didn’t I take more pictures..make more memories…should’ve’s & could’ve’s that I cant change!
I understand completely. I also think we simply do the best with what we know. I too was not fabulous at taking pictures when they were little but I’m getting better at it now!
Definitely something many of us should think of. My family certainly doesn’t spend enough time together. Partially because of work, partially because of different interests and lack of time. We love each other and definitely need to make a bigger effort.
Life is just so darn busy! Don’t you wish there were 8 days in the week? LOL
We do make a good effort at family time but I think we definitely could be doing a better job of it.
The good news we can all make an effort to find the time 🙂
I find it a bit odd? if it was family time wouldn’t they all have the same stat for the time they are all together? LOL Our evenings though are our hardest here, when you sleep with the Deputy Mayor of a small community the community seems him more than you do. 🙂
I believe because everyone had their own bracelets (trackers), including the dog and cat, the numbers were different for each person. For example, in my house I’m sure my 2 girls spend more time together than my Husband does with either of them. It’s just the way it works sometimes.
And so hard to find time with your Hubby when he’s so prominent in the community!
yes like tonight is a council meeting. I’ve gone to a few just to be the “public”
I have a big family and we often get together not all at one time because some live away but when they are home we do every chance we get.Actually hubby cooked dinner last night and we had family over and played games till midnight…..got to love those nights
That sounds like a perfect kind of night. Don’t you love it when all the pieces fall into place? 🙂
As a family, we try to make the most of our time together but we could do better! Such an important thing to be aware of!
It’s so easy to let those hours slip through our fingers. I think this video is a great reminder to just stop, think and make time for each other.