We all find ourselves playing the waiting game

By Staff
Michelle Blaylock, Mom's Corner
Have you ever noticed how much we wait? We wait at red lights, doctor appointments, restaurants, drive thrus, pickup lines at schools, check-out lines, and many others.
I read this week the average American will spend approximately 6 months of their lives waiting at red lights. Oh, goody.
In December, I spent some “wait” time in the emergency room with my mother-in-law.
When I had arrived at her home to take her to the hospital she had remarked about what I was bringing with me. I had some hand sewing, a Bible study, and book. She had asked how long I expected to be waiting.
I replied with I didn’t like to just sit and wanted to use any wait time as constructively as possible. I told her I discovered a long time ago that I could look on “wait” time as a burden or an opportunity. I choose to make it an opportunity.
In truth, it was when my oldest daughter was very young that I made that discovery. She was frequently ill. Hence, we spent time waiting in doctor’s offices. I used to get frustrated waiting to be seen by the doctor. I would sit there and think of all the things I could be doing at home.
Well, that mindset did nothing to improve my disposition. I decided I had to change my viewpoint. Instead of looking at the wait time as an inconvenience I decided to look at it as an opportunity.
I began to look for things I could do while I waited. First of all, if nothing else, it’s a great time to just relax and read a favorite book or share favorite books with my daughter if she was not too ill. As soon as she began to talk I started to teach her things while we waited. I soon discovered she loved to learn poetry. We began by learning all the nursery rhymes I could think of and then moved on to other types of poetry. The nurses would laugh when my little three-year-old could recite poems from Shel Silverstein and other poets. To this day, she stills loves poetry.
As the family grew and the kids began to get older and entertained themselves more, I still tried to make sure I was prepared to wait.
I tried to keep a bag packed that had a variety of activities such as coloring books and colored pencils or washable markers, neither one of these react badly to heat, like crayons do.
I also included a couple of small puzzles, a favorite book (I prefer to use one that has multiple stories in it like the collections of One Minute Stories or poetry books), a couple of small toys that the kids were only allowed to play with during “wait times,” a healthy snack and an empty sippy cup that I would fill with juice or water right before leaving home. As the kids reached the age of being able to not need me to actively entertain them, I began to look at other productive ways of spending “wait time.”
Here are some of the things that have worked for me at one time or another: sorting and filing coupons, sorting pictures, making a grocery list, cross-stitching or hand sewing, making out menus for the next week or two, updating my planner, scheduling other appointments, reading about a new craft or sewing project, work on puzzle books, and read a book. Recently I’ve also occasionally borrowed my daughter DS and played games.
It may seem a little silly, but some of those games are challenging and it’s a great way to exercise your mind. In fact, there is one game that is designed just to exercise mind.
I’ve also encountered other people that hasd creative ways of using wait time. For example, I took a scrapbooking workshop when we lived in Kentucky. The lady who taught the workshop actually took her scrapbooking supplies with her to doctor appointments.
She carried along a light weight TV tray and a small satchel for the pictures and supplies.
I had another friend several years ago who kept a “to go” bag ready for herself. She usually had a light snack (she was a diabetic), an extra supply of her medication, an emergency contact information sheet, an activity book for her children, and a cross-stitch or other portable craft for herself.
I don’t currently have a bag ready to go all the time, however, I do keep stuff at hand so I can have a bag ready in a matter of minutes.
Obviously, we can’t use every minute of every day doing something. Sometimes we do just have to patiently wait. However, by using the other times wisely, I don’t feel so impatient when I do have to just wait, like at those stoplights. After all, if I’m going to use six months of my life sitting there I suppose I’d better learn to be patient.
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