How often do you take time to connect with your children? Studies show that spending just 10 minutes every day with your child can boost their confidence and strengthen your parent-child bond.
It’s important to realize that your children need social connections. They need to feel validated in their emotions, and they need to know they have a support system in you as their parent. Connecting with your child, even for just minutes a day, can set your children up for success well into adulthood. Here are a few ways to connect with your kids every day.
1. Set Aside Time to Snuggle
Who doesn’t love to grab a cozy blanket, jump on the couch, and snuggle up with a friend? After homework is finished and put away, set aside time each day to snuggle with your kids. Make it a fun game and chase them around the house, before grabbing them and throwing a tickle party. This is a great way to build closeness with your child.
2. Share Laughs Often
When you’re playful and silly with your child, your child learns not to take everything so seriously. Get silly. Run around the yard and give your child piggyback rides. Play hide-and-seek with your kids in the backyard. Go for giggles and belly laughs––keep the mood light and humorous. Laughing together is a great way to connect, and makes kids smarter, healthier, and can help your child learn to cope with life’s challenges a lot better.
3. Enjoy the Little Moments Together
Do you ever find yourself wishing that time would slow down? That you could capture the little moments of laughter and joy throughout the day and store them away? Spending one-on-one quality time with a child helps us learn to savor the small moments. Just think about it; these times with your children every day are precious, no matter how mundane they may seem. A few ways you can savor more moments with your child is to:
- Put your phone or other electronics away for a certain amount of time daily. Consider putting off your morning email checks until after family breakfast time. Before bed, put phones and other electronics away so that you and your child can share undivided attention.
- Finish to-do lists, and make time for random activities to do with your child. Chores can wait.
- Write down funny, interesting, or downright goofy moments with your child. You can both look back on these years from now and reflect together.
4. Read to Your Child
Whether you’re reading a classic novel, or a quick read before bedtime, reading to your child can benefit your child in many ways. Some benefits include:
- Increased cognitive skills
- Strengthened bond
- Improved imagination and creativity
- Increase in concentration
- Improved language skills
If your child doesn’t take an interest in books, help them find books on their favorite subjects. If they like bugs, find a book with fun facts about bugs; if they like dragons, find a good fictional book about dragons. Finding and exploring different books is a great way to bond with your child.
Though this list isn’t exhaustive, it’s a great start if you’re trying to find more ways to connect with your child. Building a solid connection with your child now will benefit them throughout their life.
