I love my girls. Really love them. However, on a day to day basis, I have a difficult time being present with them. Doing things like getting down on the floor with them to play, reading more than just a couple books per day, or paying really close attention to the silly stories they tell. It was very surprising and disappointing to me that I have this problem when all my life I dreamed of being a mom. I thought all of the “motherly” things would come so easy to me. When I realized that it didn’t, I knew I had to take some action to be intentional. I needed make sure that my girls felt special and that I didn’t let the mundane tasks of the day override making memories with them.
This brings me to the “Power of 5”. Each day I try to make sure that I fit in five sessions of quality time with my girls. This may sound low to some of you, but it seems very realistic in my world. I try to make them at least 15-20 minutes each, and be fully present with them; no phone, no distractions. Some ideas of things I have done are:
- Reading time. I grab my girls and a bunch of books for a cuddly reading time on my bed. There is something about a parent’s bed that is way better than your own when you’re a kid! As soon as my daughter gets in it she raves about how comfy it is!
- Puzzles. I’ll get all the wooden puzzles we own and make a puzzle station in our living room. I undo each puzzle and we go around putting all the pieces back together as a little team. They love this!
- Coloring. My girls love to color! We lay on the floor and go to town. Halfway through my oldest daughter (3 1/2 yrs) will usually snag the coloring page I’m working on and take it over because she thinks it looks prettier than hers 😉
- Bathtime. Sometimes there is a serious need to break up the day. Instead of leaving bathtime for the evenings, we’ll switch it up and do it in the afternoon. I will just sit on the floor by the bathtub and play whatever they want to play!
- Outside Time. We will play outside with our chalk and write letters, numbers, or anything else that comes to mind! Hopscotch is always a fun one to play!
- Crafts. We LOVE crafts. We do things that are super simple like cutting and gluing random pieces of construction paper to eachother to breaking out beads, glitter, googly eyes, and more!
I think the key to this time for me, is removing all of my distractions. Namely, my phone! Such a small device with so much power! I will turn my phone on silent or make sure it is in a different room so I can be fully engaged with my kids. They deserve to have their mama love on them and show them that they are more important than any piece of technology. They also deserve to have me look at them, really look at them, hug them, kiss them, snuggle them, and engage their little hearts to show them how precious they are.
Five times a day is a tangible goal for me, and when I do it, my days with my girls become the kind that leave memories.
LOVED this!! I am SO going to try the Power of 5 especially since they come to work with me and have to share my attention with the other muchkins I nanny! Thanks K!
Love this Krystle! With one, I found it pretty easy to sit down and spend a lot of time playing with him. However, it has been SO much more challenging with two making sure that they each get quality time every day! I find myself getting caught up in the everyday tasks that need to get done a lot more, and those darn phones are such a useless distraction! I think being intentional about it as you mentioned is the key. I’ve learned that it isn’t about the amount of time they get, just the quality, and that you are fully engaged and present with them for those moments. Thanks for the reminder!