How to Be Present in Your Child’s Day
How to be present in my children’s day is a question I sometimes find myself thinking about. Especially now that we have two in college, a middle schooler (oh the tween years!) and our youngest is getting more and more independent.
As a busy mom, your time gets spread thin across a number of tasks throughout the day. Between the housework, cooking, taking care of your family, and all those errands each day, it’s a wonder you make it through the entire day sometimes! Sometimes when your days start to fill up, we don’t get as much time with our children as we’d like to.
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When I first transitioned to being a full-time entrepreneur, I had all of these ideas of things I would do with all the extra time on my hands. Boy was I in for a rude awakening! My days got even busier and I had to be very intentional about creating time with my family and ensuring that I was present in my children’s day individually and collectively.
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While I’m no pro (are we ever at this motherhood thing?), I will say that over the years I have come up with a great list of ways to be present in my child’s day that I’d love to share with you.
How to Be Present in your Child’s Day
1 – Unplug from your electronics
Make time each day to put away all your electronic devices. When your kids are around, put them away and spend time with your kids.
2 – Sit down and have a meal together
Whenever your kids are home, make time to sit down with them and eat together. This will give you time to talk and spend some quality time together.
3 – Take your children with you when you need to go somewhere
Need to run to the store? Take your kids with you. This can be a great way to make them a part of what you’re doing instead of leaving them at home.
4 – Don’t be afraid to join in when they’re having fun
The dishes can wait, memories won’t. Make it a priority to sit down with your children and play with them each day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
5 – Do a brain dump each day so you can clear the mental clutter
Make time to do a brain dump each day so you can focus on your children when they are talking to you. If you need to, tell them to wait a minute while you jot down a thought you don’t want to forget.
6 – Make eye contact with your children when they ask you a question
When your children ask you a question, stop what you’re doing and make eye contact with them. This will have a powerful impact with minimal effort.
7 – Don’t put it off
If you want to be present in your child’s day, you can’t put it off. Don’t tell yourself you’ll do it later, make time for it each and every day.
8 – Do a special activity with your child each day
Read together, play together, or start a gratitude journal together. Find a way to do something special with your child each day.
9 – Start your day off with spending time with your child
Instead of jumping right into the housework, start your day off with spending quality time together. This will ensure that no matter how busy your day gets, you still made time for them.
10 – Ask your child to help you with something you’re doing
Are you making dinner or cleaning up the house? If you can’t bear to let it wait, why not ask your kids to help you out with it? It will give them a chance to learn about doing chores around the house, and you can get it done faster.
You don’t have to take the day off to be able to be present in your child’s day. Keep these handy the next time you are starting to realize you haven’t spent as much time with your kids as you had intended to.