What children really: Time!

"Mommy do you want to play kitchen with me?"
"Not now, mommy is busy right now. Later may be. "
Sounds familiar?! There is one thing that I have learn is that TIME means LOVE for them. Every time I spend time with my children they think I am the best mother in the world. I know we all have priorities and things to do. We all have. However, when you tell your children that you are too busy, or you do not have time. In their world, it means: I am less important, I am not loved. I know this is not what we mean, but for them it really does. I am going to give you a few tips on how to change that.

1. It is so important that you have something planned on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and one thing in a lifetime basis. My next blog will be consecrated on this topic. What I mean is that make sure you spend at least 15 minutes of something they like to do with you. It does not have to be complicated, nor extravagant. Pillow fights, hide and seek, 123 Soleil, tickeling monsters... are just the few games I play with my kids on a daily basis. I don't play for hours but just enough to let them know that mommy loves to play with them.

2. Be spontaneous. Sometimes, when my children ask me to do something, I just tell myself why not? What ever I am doing can wait anyway, and there is always tomorrow. Take also the initiative to do something with them. Do something fun to break the routine. Getting the kids to help you cook, showing them may be something that you can do like painting, colouring or something you used to do when you were a child that you never showed them They will be all ears.

3. I know that most things comes before playing dolls and cars, but instead of saying I don't have time maybe you can explain a little bit more what you are doing and why it is important. My son understands but my 2 year old no. She will repeat: Hide and Seek, Hide and Seek, until we play. So usually I try to put her focus on something else, like painting. I would tell her: Why don't you paint a beautiful picture for mommy. It does the trick most of the time but sometimes I just have to give in for one round of hide and seek.

On a last note, buying things constantly things for your children, so you can have peace and quiet to do things will never fill in the void your children feel every time you don't make an effort of spending just something that does not cost you anything. The best play of all for a child is to play with his parents.

Enjoy your Family.

Eulalie Alphonse.