Lately, I have been wondering how to make more time to spend with the kids. I know this sounds strange. Why would a stay-at-home mom need to make time to spend with her kids, the keyword being ‘make.’ After all, she is with them all day long. As odd as it sounds, it is accurate that I am busy all day and necessary that I find the time for quality connections. I am talking about personal time to talk about their day, listen to their stories, play along with them, do what they want to do, get down at their level, and connect with them on what matters to them and not me.
Let me paint a picture of my day for you. A typical day starts in the morning with me waking up early to get some much-needed exercise and prayer time. The kids are up after, and I help the little ones brush and get ready. Once we are all changed, we head down for breakfast. I make breakfast for all of us, and we head straight to homeschool, where we spend the rest of the morning. I spend time with my 3.5-year old on lessons followed by my 6.5-year old. Close to noon, I head to the kitchen to prepare lunch. After lunch, the boys go down for their naps. During those quiet moments, I sit with my older kid to work on more lessons. Once the boys are up, they eat snacks, and we start to wrap up any unfinished school work from the day. Most days, I use this time to clean up the house, work on Instagram posts, review homeschool curriculums and books, prepare lessons for the next day, etc. I have not mentioned laundry, bath day for the kids, and other household chores that need to get done in between.
I know this is a typical day for most homeschooling moms and SAHMs. Working parents also end up with little time in the day to make it count. I know that because I have been there and understand the challenges of the working mom life. So, when in the day should we fit in this essential quality personal time with the kids? The answer is simple. It is easy to give plenty of excuses for not having time. After all, if you read about my typical day, it is a fact. But the real answer is that we should be prioritizing it like we do all other things in life.
I’m going back to the topic I love talking about – Intentional Parenting. We parents need to be intentional about carving out some quality time for the kids. It may be 20 minutes or an hour, but make it matter and make it count and let your kids speak of it and remember the moments you stopped in the day to give them time because sometimes these moments may teach them life lessons we forget to teach in our daily rush of living.
And with that, I will be penciling in some time this week to pause and be present with my children. Will you give it a try?
