Parenting on a Time Budget? How to Spend Time With Your Kids When You Have No Time
Are you Parenting on a time budget? Children tend to spell love T-I-M-E. For your kids spending quality time with them is all that matters, they don’t count down the minutes, they count the moments. Unfortunately with the demands of everyday life you may find that time isn’t something you have readily available. Many parents feel they just don’t have enough time, but that doesn’t mean they love their kids any less.
The reason you need to learn how to spend time with your kids when you have no time is because quality time is important to their happiness and healthy development. Every parent needs to slow down just enough to capture that quality moment with their kids amidst the demands of life, relationships and careers. When parents learn to spend time with their kids even when they have no time, their kids tend to feel happier and loved.
Parenting on a Time Budget
One way to learn if you are getting enough quality time with your kids or not is to watch their behavior. When kids are not having their needs met, they will act out. Kids tend to seek attention by any means possible so if you truly feel you aren’t making time for your kids and they are acting amuck read on to learn how you can spend time with your kids when you have no time.
Make Together Time Part of Your Day
Just as you would make time to sit and pay bills or call a relative, learn to make together time with your kids a part of your daily routine. Incorporate a conversation with your older kids while you are cooking dinner set your younger kids up coloring at the table while you cook dinner. Each of those options allows you to converse with your kids and make them feel as if you are truly interested in what’s going on in their world. Parenting on a time budget is possible, and necessary.
Drop Notes For Them Around the House
If you truly have no time in a day and life just got super hectic, drop your kids a little note on the bathroom mirror or their dresser drawer. Have little notes that say I love you or some other positive message as a means to make them smile and feel loved in that moment of reading your little note. While this isn’t quality time, it shows your kids that they were thought of and will warm their heart more than you will ever know.
One on One Time
When raising multiple kids it’s really important to ensure you find time to be one on one with each of your children, again this can be during a moment you are cooking up dinner. Another option for one on one time could be to take a kid along when you are running an errand. Have a priority to ensure that each errand running trip you let one child ride along, while out and about, turn on the radio and sing to a favorite song or just let them talk to you about whatever they wish.
The key to spending time with your kids when you have no time is to get creative and learn how to use the time you have in between that busy life. Making moments matter is all your kids need, they don’t need endless hours of your time on daily to feel loved and cared for. Your children DO need quality time.