John Rizzo: it's the little moments that matter
Bupa's director of Brand and Customer Experience John Rizzo writes about the pressure every parent feels when it comes to spending precious time with family while balancing work and life commitments, as Bupa launches its Little Moments Matter campaign.
Written ​by John Rizzo, Director, Brand and Customer Experience, Bupa Australia.
When I'm worried about something, it's often comforting to know I'm not alone, that what I'm feeling isn't unusual.
I had a realisation like this recently when our research to identify how we could make a difference to family health and wellbeing found that almost half of all parents were worried they don't spend enough quality time with their kids. That's me!
This thought crosses my mind daily, usually as my head hits the pillow after a full day of meetings, kid taxi-ing, dinner time battles, chores and work calls – the 'functional parenting mode' my wife and I call it. As our kids grow up in what feels like the blink of an eye, I find myself questioning if I'm spending enough quality time with my kids, am I doing a good job, and trying to find the answer to the age-old question, how do we find more time in the day?
Bupa's research also told us parents care most about the emotional wellbeing of their kids. Yep, me again, because the one thing I care most about when it comes to my kids is that they are happy and healthy. Like all parents, I want my children to feel safe, secure and grow up to be resilient and well-adjusted.
Selfishly, I find this research reassuring for the fact I'm obviously not alone in judging my own parenting abilities, and a wealth of insight out there also says we shouldn't put added pressure on ourselves as parents to find more time to plan bigger gestures.
In contrast, we should be making the most of the little everyday moments we already have together as a family to connect, talk and laugh; these are some of the best ways to nurture family connection and wellbeing.
This week, Bupa launched our Little Moments Matter campaign.
Little Moments Matter is an integrated three-year program of work which supports our ambition to make a difference to families by facilitating one million moments of family connection.
In case you're wondering, my favourite little moment that I cherish with my kids is our inventive story time together – we replace story books with a 'choose your own adventure' style story that we create together.
It's amazing to see where their imaginations take them, and it's a great way to see how their minds are developing and the world they are experiencing.
What's your family's favourite little moment?
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