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| Creating quality time with your kids
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Balancing working life and quality time with children is a huge challenge for working parents. The constant chaos of drop-offs, chores and dinner-bath-bed leaves most parents feeling worried that they don't spend enough quality time with their children.
Thankfully, it's not quantity of time, but quality time together that matters with little ones. By creating moments that allow them to come into your life, and also taking opportunities to enter theirs, the short time you do have together can be incredibly special. Here are a few ideas.
Let kids help with chores
Chores still need to get done, but sharing the task can be fun and (most) kids usually love to help. Sure, it probably won't be done to standard and might take a little longer than usual, but those moments spent together can be become a truly special time, and kids also learn some vital life skills along the way.
Folding laundry is a great way to talk to kids about their day; grocery shopping can be an adventure if they have their own list so they can hunt out items for themselves. Cooking dinner together is also the perfect time to chat about school or homework, and reconnect as a family.
And all kids love washing the car and the chance to drench mummy and daddy! Whatever chore it is, just find a way to make it fun and interesting to children… and even to adults!
Eat together
One of the most important things a family can do is to regularly eat dinner together. Not only does regularly sharing dinner instill better eating habits, it grounds the family creating stronger parent-child connections. Of course, this doesn't work if everyone is angry and cranky! Make sure any tension and stress is left behind and the dinner table is a positive, relaxed experience. Put the phone away, turn off the TV, tell a joke or a story and share everything that happened in your day.
Schedule family time
Sounds crazy that we need to actually schedule time with our loved ones, but often it is the one thing that gets neglected in our busy lives. Commit to a family outing on a Saturday, even if it is just to the park or the beach, or arrange a family movie night at home. Put the phone away and be fully present for those few hours.
Be involved in activities
After-school activities are a great way to make those minutes count. Rather than use it as a chance to catch up on emails on the sidelines, use this time to be involved in their lives and leave the emails until the kids are in bed. Coach the soccer team, or help out behind the scenes at the school play. And on a daily basis, if kids have homework, they will really appreciate you being involved – even if it is with them doing it on the bench whilst you prepare dinner.
Couch time
The simplest things are often the best. A few minutes having a cuddle on the couch at the end of a busy day goes a very long way. Be present, be silly, be loving, and cherish those few minutes where nothing else matters.
Always read a story
No matter what else happens in the day, curling up in bed and reading a bedtime story is the most special way to finish the day for both of you. Not only does it help to instill a lifelong love for books, it is what they will remember most about their day as they fall asleep.
For further reading about the pressures of juggling working life and home life, see our recent article on managing feelings of mother guilt, and our worklife balance toolkit. |
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