BY WITHNEY BATHEL
I recently posted on something I struggle with — truly being present when I’m with my kids. I mean, I don’t ignore them or their needs, but it can be really hard to focus on quality time when you are around your kids 24/7.
After all the meals and snacks, laundry, dishes, and working, there is little energy left to really just sit down and enjoy my little boys.
At the end of each day I am usually left thinking, we should have read a few more books, or spent some time in the sprinkler. There are just never enough hours in the day.
Because our time is so limited, it is important to make sure we are getting enough focused, engaged time with our children each and every day.
Here are a few tips from some fantastic moms on how they get quality time with their children.
1. I put my device away between 5 and 8 pm on weekdays so I can focus on the kids at that time, as we spend time as a family between dinner and bedtime. – Amy H.
2. With four kids it’s important to do one-on-ones. This is something that my parents did (I come from four kids) and it works well. We will each take turns doing special lunches and outings with one kid at a time. – Joanna V.
3. Our walks to school have become great quality time, we sing we play I spy, we are silly. Love those minutes! – Diana G.
4. My oldest is 9, so she and I go for Saturday morning hikes, followed by breakfast together. (I have Fridays off work, so I have that time with just my youngest while her sister is at school.) – Carolyn R.
5. Forgo the grandparents taking both kids and hang out with just one. It’s really hard to pass on being kid-free, but it’s always surprisingly nice to spend some time with just one of them. – Sara M.
6. I also schedule one-on-one dates with each kid. Nothing formal, but make a point to do stuff with each kid that they love, with just them. Like mani-pedis with my daughter, bike rides with my son. – Amy H.
7. We try to have a work-free, chore-free day once a week. I know the urge to dust this or that is sometimes ridiculously strong, but really, who’s going to remember a dirty bookshelf in ten years anyway? – Megan S.
8. I try to get my kids involved when cooking and doing daunting things like dishes and other household stuff. Sometimes it feels like it would just be easier to work around them (and chores usually take twice as long), but we really enjoy that time together. – Tracy L.
9. A lot of my friends have cars with DVD players in them. They always say they love driving anywhere because they can put on a show and have some quiet time, but my husband and I try to take that time as an opportunity to spend time together as a family. We talk, and laugh, and sing. It’s great. We save the DVD player for super-long trips only. – Sam S.
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