Parents have a reputations for not wanting to waste time.

“Hurry up!”

“Don’t dawdle!”

“We’re wasting time. Come on, let’s go!”

I’m sure there’s very good reason for this. You don’t want your kids to be late to school or practice. You want your kids to get their homework done, get their room cleaned and be as timely as possible.

But I fear we’ve become a society that is too fastidious about wasting time.

Are you one of those?

If so, you may be missing out on the amazing things that can happen when you choose to waste time or even when you just let time be wasted without fighting it. Wasting time has gotten a bad rap. It does not necessarily mean that it is time thrown away like paper in a trash can.

When it comes to wasting time with your kids, the stakes are even higher. If you choose not to waste time now with your children, you might wind up losing those precious hours forever as they get older.

I encourage you to waste your time, especially as a sports parent. You may think that sitting at games and practices, waiting for matches to start or traveling to tournaments are wastes of time.

But that time is actually not wasted. It is part of the time you invest in your kids.

It’s OK to put aside the housework, the computer, the emails that are screaming for your attention and waste some time with your kids.

Go outside and play a game of H.O.R.S.E in the driveway or catch or touch football or Marco Polo in the pool. Do it until you and your kids are tired out.

Take the kids for an ice cream run after practice.

Read the same book to your child over and over and over.

Sit down and watch a movie or TV show with them.

There are literally hundreds of ways, parents, for you to waste time with your children. Look for the opportunities every day. What you may normally see as a “waste of time” is actually part of your investment in their lives.

Janis B. Meredith, sports mom and coach's wife, writes a sports parenting blog called JBM Thinks. She authored the Sports Parenting Survival Guide Series and has a podcasting series for sports parents. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.