As a parent there are so many times where you get stymied by the day to day issues that you have to do that it becomes hard at times to take time out of that schedule to be able to simply be present in the lives of our children. With that in mind I wanted to share five ideas that all of you can use in providing yourself a way to be able to find time and to be present with your kids (with no or little cost).
- Get Physical
Whether it is rough-housing, playing tag, hide-and seek or outdoor sports, modeling an active lifestyle is important as it will help them to learn that being active is something that they should have as a part of their daily life. This will assist them in the long run to live a long and happy life!
- Challenge Them and Yourself
Family game nights can be so much fun, so pull out a board game that you love and teach your children how to play. Make this a weekly event and have the person who gets to choose the game that they will play change every week. This allows for everyone to have their turn and also allows everyone to share something about themselves while having fun.
- Get Lost
You never know what you will find when you step outside of the norm and allow yourself to take a chance on something new. While staying with the status quot is something that all of us are comfortable with, it is important to step outside of this comfort zone to share with your children the importance of risk taking. Thus, if you are not an outdoors person, take a chance and sleep outside in a tent with your kids. If you are not a person who is involved in sports, challenge yourself to go outside and throw around the ball. Doing this will help you and your children to learn and grow.
- Read Together
Take time in the evenings or even in the mornings to read together. Find something that both you and your child will like, or take turns. Not only will this allow your child to benefit from your reading but if you let them read they then will become that much stronger of a reader.
- Get Connected
With our world being overrun by technology it is easy to get lost in the day-to-day technology and turn toward it instead of toward each other. My suggestion here is to take the technology that you do have and share it with each other. Thus, if that means sharing music together and dancing around the living room, then do it. If it means sitting down and playing a game of Super Mario Brothers, then do this. The important thing here is to make sure that the technology does not take over your or your children’s lives.
These are but a few ideas of how you can reconnect with your kids without a lot of effort. Make a pledge in the new year to turn toward your kids and your family and make it a great year!