Balancing Work and Family

The things that stood out to me most from the videos and readings this week was Steve Blank answering the question about how to balance work or family life.  I found it amusing that someone asked him, "From your perspective as a woman..."  He's not a woman, so he can't speak from that perspective.  I think it shows how male-centric that whole world is.  But he had a good answer, and in giving his answer he tacitly reminded them that women are not the only ones who have to balance family and career, fathers have a responsibility to be present in their children's lives, too.  He said that he made it a rule that he would always have dinner with his kids, and put them to bed.  Afterwards he would work from home several more hours, but he was there during those key times, sacrificing his sleep instead of their childhoods.  He also spent Saturday with them, taking them to work half a day, and then spending the rest of the day away from work with them.  It made me realize that I need to set some of those absolutes, too.  My children are older, and I'm still a student, not an entrepreneur, but I find that keeping up with homework and doing my volunteer work for LDSHE can lead me to be tempted to ignore my family all evening.  After listening to this talk, I've decided that I need to commit to spending the time between dinner and bedtime with my family, and to not letting homework overtake my Saturdays.