Top 5 Ways to Spend Quality Time With Your Child

 

Modern parents live busy lives. Between work and family responsibilities, many worry if they are spending adequate time with their children. Those who believe they are not, often feel guilty thinking how their child’s behavioral, academic, and overall development would be adversely affected due to this. But rather than focusing on the quantity of time you spend with your child, you should think about spending quality time as the latter would be the most beneficial for your child. But what does quality time refer to? Let’s find out.

 

What does quality time mean?

Quality time refers to togetherness where you express your love and affection toward your child with undivided attention. In a way, spending quality time with your child means speaking his/her the love language that makes him/her feel loved, appreciated, important, and special.

Quality time does not just mean setting aside a block of time with the intention of spending it in the company of your child while fidgeting with your phone, taking office calls, doing household chores, and similar things.

Rather, it means giving your undivided attention to the child and getting him/her involved. Spending quality time could be as simple as using your active listening skills to encourage your child to share his/her thoughts and opinions. From focusing on what the child is saying to asking thoughtful questions, leaning in slightly to show you are giving due attention to the spoken words, and offering advice if it is asked for, you can ensure your child’s feelings, views, and opinions are understood and given the importance they deserve while showering him/her with unconditional love and empathy.

Thus, quality time refers to connecting with your child and giving him/her a lot more than just your time. It is your attention that counts. Perhaps that is why in the domain of parenting, quality time stands miles ahead of quantity time.

For some parents, making these efforts to spend quality time with their children could seem a little unnatural in the beginning. However, with time and effort, they will be able to start doing it somewhat effortlessly, without a second thought.

 

What are the top five ways to spend quality time with your child?

Depending on what your child loves or prefers to do and the amount of time you can invest, you should decide the kind of activities or things you want to be engaged with while trying to spend quality time. Here are the top five ways that could help you to make every moment spent with your child count:

 

Create a morning routine to have a daily “connect” with your child

Nothing can beat beginning your day on a loving and positive note with your child. To do this, you can create a morning routine where you do something fun with your child.

It could be making the bed, brushing teeth, doing the dishes together, getting the ingredients for breakfast, doing a 10-minute freehand exercise routine, or writing a motivational quote on the home’s shared whiteboard.

All these little things will go a long way in strengthening your bond with your child and in the years to follow, it could become something your child would fondly remember you by.

 

Have a bedtime routine

If you can’t have a morning routine, you can surely sneak in 10-15 minutes to have a bedtime routine with your child. Be it asking about how his/her day went, reading out a chapter from his/her favorite book, or doing a quick 10-minute meditation, you can ensure to create some special and fun moments and bank them up together to remember them with fondness.

 

Beat stress together

Today, stress is no longer present just in the lives of adults. It affects children too. If you have some stress buster activities that you indulge in often like gardening, yoga, or music, you can get your child involved in them. While it would help you to stick to your stress-busting routine, your child would surely love your company while doing something pleasurable and fun, which is relaxing and calming too.

 

Bond over nature

Getting your child out in nature would get all his/her senses activated, improve attention span, and help reduce stress. Additionally, spending time with your child in nature would help create a lasting emotional connection.

If possible, you can go on hikes, explore nature trails, etc. But if your urban-dwelling does not let you do such activities, you can take your kid to a nearby park or even grow a sapling in your backyard and encourage the child to take care of it by watering it regularly.

Apart from bonding over nature, such activities will make your child conscious of the environment and the world around him/her.

 

Create memories together

Get indulged in planned activities or do something impromptu with your child to create lifetime memories. These could be something as simple as eating meals with your child, making a one-second video doing something fun and silly together, playing board games like Scrabble, Monopoly, or Pictionary, playing quizzes together, or watching a fun movie with a tub of popcorn for company.

The key is to set aside some time every day or every week to just have fun with your child while enjoying each other’s company.

 

How much quality time should parents spend with their kids?

There is no correct answer to this question. It depends on a lot of factors. Parents raise their children according to different values, beliefs, cultures, and religions, and the process of upbringing differs from one neighborhood, city, or country to the other.

Thus, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to deciding how much time would be counted as quality time.

Yet, many parents feel spending 2 to 4 hours of quality time each day would be good. Anything lower than this would make them miss their children and even send them on a guilt trip, while anything more could make them feel overwhelmed.

However, it is important to remember that as children grow older, they will begin to have their own priorities and prefer leading their own lives, which could mean the time parents get to spend with them could be lesser. Yet, the quality of time parents spend with them would still matter, even if it’s a few minutes, irrespective of how much the children have grown and matured.

So, the next time you think about spending time with your child, focus on quality rather than quantity.