Parenting in the Fast Lane
Today my nearly-seven-year-old son showed me his first loose tooth. For one short second tears came unwillingly to my eyes as I recalled the time a spoon clinked against his first tooth when he was a baby. That was just yesterday, wasn’t it? Where did all of these years go? How did my baby become a sports enthusiast, an excellent reader in two languages, and keep trying to solve the math problems at the end of the arithmetic book?
Despite the sleepless nights and endless weekends, their childhood flies by with incomprehensible speed. The demands of modern life often dictate a two-income family just to make ends meet. Although appliances like the microwave and dishwasher are designed to save us time, we are constantly running ahead just to stay in place!
How do find quality time when there is a relatively small quantity of time we can spend with our children? Where can we take a break from the vast lane, and reconnect with those that mean the most to us?
Do you know how children spell the word ‘love‘? T-I-M-E.
If you are extremely busy, it is essential that you choose regular, specific time slots to spend an uninterrupted five to fifteen minutes with each child.
* If your child is an early riser, a few minutes together in the morning, prior to starting the getting-breakfast-and-dressed routine will have an enormous effect on the tone of his day.
* Immediately when she returns home from school is a great time to reconnect and express your love for your daughter.
* If you have different bedtimes for children of various ages, spending time with the child who stays up later right after the younger one has been put to bed will make him feel special and the bonding more focused.
* When putting multiple children to bed at the same bedtime, choose a different kid each night that can tiptoe out of bed and share a glass of water with you for a few minutes.
These are times that children are very receptive to their parents’ emotions. Expressing your love and pride in your child will definitely make him more cooperative and loving.
No matter what time works best for your family, you will yield tremendous dividends by investing in quality time on a consistent basis.
Which times work best for you?
I am stopping the cycle my parents made and I go out of my way to raise my little ones in a happy environment. I know I am not perfect but they have never heard harsh words in our presence, and we take lots of “TIME INs” (instead of time outs) to snuggle them and hug them and dance or read or sing with them. I do not care if they are accepted to the best schools or colleges or if they are the first to do anything- my only aim, my only goal- is that they have a happy childhood. We cannot redo it later on if we mess it up for them and I know, with every breath I take and every decision I make (and every time i bite my tongue and check myself) that we are responsible for their childhoods. That is such a grande and awesome task. WE are making their childhood. This is what I think about every day when I decide that we will have some down time…or tickle time or quiet time. I am madly in love with them and I have to remember that they cannot suffer because of my hard day at work or my long commute or my lack of preparing ahead for a dinner. This is my (and hubby’s) task. It is our number one job. They are our masterpieces. I would rather be a soft cushion for them to fall on than a hard place. We do still teach lessons, but we teach them by modeling them ourselves. Children imitate their atmosphere and though it can be trying, this is the responsibility I brought on myself when they came into the world. These tiny little souls are ours to cherish. How lucky we are!
I love the saying…… “Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear a word you are saying.”
We all love our children and of course we tell them, but how often do we take our precious time to show them??? I loved the reminder in this article, that they need our time and energy -scheduled if need be, to SHOW them our love. Thanks for the reminder and I love the response of the Momma that is going to get up early to get her agenda out of the way so she can focus on her little ones. That is the inspiration I needed as well. God bless…..
It’s not that we don’t have time to be with our kids. In today’s world our priorities have changed. let’s first ask ourselves, “Do I enjoy being with my child?” If we can say “YES” to this conscientiously then we can have all the time in the world to be with our children.