Kids grow so fast; one moment they are crawling into the living room making cute inaudible and the next they are leaving for college. When you think about it, children spend more time in school, on their phones and sleeping than they spend with their parents.
Parents are always busy, we get it, but it is important to make time for your kids and share some fun times with them. You need to spend some quality time with them and teach them some morals you’d like them to have growing up. It doesn’t have to be something over the top and expensive; just some simple activities to bring you closer together that you will both love.
Acquire new skills
Children have their own unique talents which need nurturing and encouragement. You won’t notice your kids’ talents if you barely spend time with them. The beauty about children is that their brains are still developing, and they have so much capacity to learn new things and acquire more knowledge.
Take some time during the weekends to teach your child something new. It can be the knitting skills you learned from grandma or making an origami owl, a skill you have known since high school. Pass simple yet meaningful knowledge that your kid will remember for their lives. Make it fun and enjoyable for the both you. Remember the purpose is to have fun together.
Read books together
When your kids are younger, you read bedtime stories to them. The benefits of reading books to your children are numerous. However, when they start school, this routine tends to fall off and die altogether.
Teaching your children about the love of books is important in making them readers when they grow up. Form your own little book club in the house in which you gather over the weekends, and everyone talks about the books they have read in the course of the week. These should be general literature; not school textbooks.
Sit down and talk
In this era of smartphones and the communication apps that come with them, it will surprise you how little time you spend on a relaxed face-to-face conversation with your loved ones. Even when in the house, chances are you spend most of it glued to your phone.
Create an environment in which you can sit and have a relaxed conversation with your kids. No chores, phones or TV. Just a parent and their child sitting together and talking. Listen to them without interrupting. Make sure they know that you love and care for them. Listening and talking with your child is the way to strengthen the bond between you.
Travel together
It may be a wise idea to let your child accompany you on your vacation. You are more relaxed during the vacation, and you are likely to be more sensitive and friendly than when you are bogged down with work-related stress.
Even if you are not going on a vacation, you can take a short road trip down to town and dine out with your child. You can even visit the local museum.
