Love Your Kids By Being Present

What do our kids want most? They want our attention. They want our focus. They want our love.

I’m sure like me, sometimes you just want to tune out. Keeping track and caring for littles can be exhausting-physically and mentally. And how do we tune out? Our phones.

I’m guilty of this all too much. “Just let me finish this.” “I just need to check something.” And so on and so forth.

So before you continue reading, make sure your kids aren’t around, that you are being present. This can wait. Everything else can wait.

Hopefully now you are alone and ready to spend a little “you” time. So let’s learn how to love our kids by being present together!

First, read these two articles by Hands Free Mama:

How to Miss a Childhood

How to Miss a Childhood update

My sister and I had a wonderful conversation the other day. We were sharing back and forth, offering advice, when she gave me a wonderful…no, LIFE CHANGING idea on how to be more present. She asked if my husband and I took our girls on dates. I told her I loved the idea, it was just hard to figure out the logistics of when to do it and what to do. She told me this idea she heard from Hands Free Mama: to spend at least 5 minutes a day one-on-one with each of your kids. I thought, “YES! I can do that!”

I set up my younger two with an activity and read an entire magazine with Ellie. We did all the “search and finds,” read every poem, every story. I was astonished by what those 5 minutes meant to Ellie…NO. What they meant to ME!

Sometimes to break bad habits we need to start small. Here’s what I know I can do. I can put my phone in my purse, zipped up, instead of mindlessly going on Facebook or Instagram. I can set aside 5 minutes a day per child to be with them one-on-one–to join their games, to read an extra book, to watch a show with them.

I am making a pledge to be more hands free, to love my kids by being present. Do you want to join me?

What can you do this week to be more present?