24/7

I like language and words. My learning style would primarily be wordy, bookish rather than pictorial or visual. Words and phrases fascinate me. Words like “spaltering”, “discombobulate” and place-names like “Broughmore”, “Culfeitrin”, “Achnasheen” and “Latherin’ Wheel”– they have mystery, music and story in them.
But there are words and phrases which grind with me these days: “Toxic Assets” for example. Or, “ I hear what you say”- which basically means I hear you but will be ignoring your views. From my youth I used to hate the phrase, “Game cancelled” which usually appeared on the school PE notice board at 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon and meant I had no game on Saturday and would be obliged to turn up to my Saturday job at the local butchers. Even worse was the phrase, “Go behind the goals for ten minutes” which meant I was yellow carded for some crime or misdemeanour!
24/7 is fairly near the top of my list of undesirables. It smacks of all day, every day living with no lights out. A world of incessant activity, work and altered bio-rythyms which can cause chaos. A world we seem to be caught up in, for the need to find employment can necessarily mean shift work for some of us.
The down side is that as couples our time with each other and our children can take on strange dimensions. In some counselling situations it is very difficult to see both parties together because of shift lives. Not only do we have the rise of shift-couples but shift-parenting. (Parenting is of course the original 24/7 activity!) Anti-social work patterns can play havoc with family life. In the 24/7 shift-work culture, time that parents have as a couple has been the main casualty, since parents tend to give priority to time with their children and the family as a whole.
It behoves us in the 24/7 context to work very diligently to keep our relationship with our partner as a top priority. Make time, find time, plan time for one another away from the parenting responsibilities. Rediscover the pleasure of each other’s uninterrupted company.
Finally I would like to apologise for using the odious “24/7” so often in this piece.