Life gets busy. As parents we all want to slow down and spend more time with our children. It makes us feel good and it makes them feel good. It creates lasting memories and close relationships with each other.
However, we all know how busy life can be! Work, school, dinners, chores, baths, etc. It’s busy and it’s exhausting!
How do we create time and make this time priority on our list everyday? We make it easy!
Two things often prevent us from spending that time with our children:
- Exhaustion
- Busy, busy, busy (checking off to-do lists!)
Exhaustion
You may be feeling like you just want to relax at the end of your day! Not run around playing hide and seek. Well, surprisingly, children enjoy that down time too! It doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t have to be a big, thought out project and it doesn’t mean packing up and going out to the park or the pool.
Busy, busy, busy!
I know that some of you are saying, ‘I have too much to do! I can’t sit and play cars or build blocks, or play store. I need to get things done!’ Fair enough, the time for a parent is not enough and the list is always way too long.
So how do you compromise? How do you accomplish tasks or relax and not miss out on precious time with your child?
Let’s figure out how you can be together without exerting a ton of energy that you just don’t have, or delaying things on your list that will take your focus away from enjoying any other activity with your child.
No energy?
Find some things to do that you can sit down and not have to pour a lot of preparation and planning into…
- Sit and read stories, or have your child read to you
- Cuddle together and watch a show or a movie
- Cuddle and talk! Talk about the day – likes/ dislikes. Talk about what you want to do tomorrow. Talk about anything!
- Do a puzzle with a cup of tea and a snack
- Create a sticker book! So fun! (we use a binder with those plastic protectors, then we put stickers on colored paper and just slide them in!)
- Color! Easy, easy, easy!
- Look through cookbooks and sticky note the recipes you want to try together
What’s on your list?
Tasks can easily incorporate your child’s assistance and company if you think creatively about how to do it! It’s also a lot more fun to do together, it gets done faster, sometimes, and your children love being with you, regardless of what you are doing, if it’s together and you are having fun doing it, they will love it and you will to when you realize just how much time you can spend together! Children love to help!
- If the dishes really can’t wait? Let your child stand on a chair and rinse the dishes, or help unload the dishwasher and place things on the counter.
- Doing laundry? Children are great at putting clothes in front loading washers, they enjoy putting the soap in the dispenser and pushing the start button. Children can also easily fold face clothes and tea towels (it doesn’t matter if they are not perfectly folded)
- Writing out Thank You notes or birthday cards? Bring out the markers and paper and let you child create their own thank you notes!
- Need to mail bill payments? Go for a walk to the mailbox together
- Making lunches for the next day? Children can help with this! They can pick out fruit to add to each lunch kit, spreading peanut butter on bread, adding juice boxes, etc. Even toddlers can be involved by using step by step instructions (find an apple, pick it up, put it in!)
- Getting coffee ready on the timer for the morning? Children love to scoop and pour the coffee grinds
- Grocery shopping? Preschool children love to ‘Spy’ the next item! (We are looking for…. Let’s see who can spy them first!)
- Dusting? Put on some tunes and slide some socks onto your child’s hands, easy way for them to help with the dusting! Especially those awkwardly low baseboards!
When you make spending time with your child the focus, you will realize how to easily make quality time together a priority! And soon you will wonder how you ever did anything without them! And you will look forward to that down time when you can relax and reconnect with each other after a busy day or week.
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