When
Work and Family Collide by Andy Stanley is a book dealing with the
pressures heaped upon working parents, specifically the tendency we have to give
our work life a higher priority with our time and devotion than our family
life. Andy's main perspective is that no one has enough time to give 100% to every
pursuit we're involved in. Therefore, we have to choose which area of our life
to cheat (and in fact, the book was previously released with the title Choosing
to Cheat). The concept can be applied not just to work and I know some hobby
bloggers who could plug "blogging" into that outlet as well because
of the demands it places on our time.
Since I am a work-at-home mom trying to make a full-time
living while also being home with my family, the title of the book was
intriguing. Work and family collide for me every single day, and I'm always
looking for ways to help me get my work done more efficiently so I can be fully
present for my husband and kids. That wasn't really what the book turned out to
be about. Rather, it first encourages you to see your family as your highest
priority, reminding the reader that a company for which you are sacrificing
that which is most important in the world may not be so loyal to you when it
comes times for layoffs, and the author presents a formula for those spending
too much time at work on how to approach your supervisor with alternate
solutions.
Since I am self-employed and am blessed to have found a
workable solution to help me keep my family my first priority, I didn't gain as
much from this book as would someone working a "normal" out of the home
job or struggling with a typical work/life balance problem. There were several
passages of the text that I would have liked my husband to read, since I know
he has a very strong work ethic and can tend to give a great deal of himself to
his work, and this has, in the past, been a point of contention. He used to
travel a great deal and this book does address that particular situation quite
a bit.
To be honest, I found the "you have to cheat
somewhere" notion a little strange. He clearly isn't telling anyone to be
dishonest or defraud their company; rather it's all a matter of prioritizing,
but the "cheat" thing had some negative undertones to it and I sometimes
found it hard to overcome the "cheat at work" mindset. I believe it's
important both to put your family before your work as a general matter but also,
to work hard and give it the best you have. I think managing a family and a
career sometimes takes creative problem solving, and I'm not sure that his
one-size-fits-all approach (based on Daniel's diet story in Scripture) is
really applicable in all or even most situations.
It is a quick read, though, and definitely has some great encouragement
for seeing your family in its proper place, then following through on that with
action. If you struggle with how to give more of yourself to your family while
holding down a career that demands a lot of you, you may benefit from giving it
a read.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for a
review from the Blogging for Books program. All opinions are always my own. Review
contains affiliate links.
