In today’s age, a working family is not uncommon, and kids are being sent to childcare centres during the day. But with so much time being spent away from the family, does that mean that bonding time with your kids is compromised? Not exactly. Thankfully, most kids love their parents, whether or not their parents spend time with them but that shouldn’t be the safety net you want to fall back on. This article will be going through 4 ways you can bond with your kids to ensure a loving relationship throughout life.
Being present in the moment
The first and foremost advice is to actually be present in the moment. This can’t be stressed enough, especially if you are a parent that only sees your child for a couple of hours a day. Many of us tend to tune out the unimportant stuff in our lives when we are tired or have other priorities in life. As a parent, you have to understand that your priority is actually your kids, so whatever gibberish or story that your kid tells, you have to be present and actually listen to it. Kids love the positive attention they are being given and are really sensitive to whether or not their parents are actually listening. Do yourself a favour and really pay attention to your kids the next time they are talking.
Building Trust
The next point revolves around something that should’ve been reinforced in your child since birth. Trust is a touchy subject, with different people having different interpretations of it. But at the end of the day, you have to make sure that your kids trust you enough to come to you with their problems and for you to talk to them frankly with any problems that you have with their behaviour. This could come as simply as following through with your promise to them or even believing in their innate capabilities. What it does not encompass is blindly following what your kid tells you to do just because you “trust” him or her.
Prioritise Time Spent
An important thing about bonding is that it doesn’t happen overnight. And that means that you can’t possibly spend a short amount of time together with your kids and expect them to tell you everything that they hold important to them. Instead, try to set aside a fixed amount of time every single day to be with your kids and talk to them. If you want to have a great relationship, there is no substitute factor for time spent together.
Respect and Conversations are A Two-Way Street
Finally, you want to give your kids the same amount of respect that you expect them to give to you. Additionally, you have to treat your conversations as conversations and not a question and answer session. Most parents simply question their kids, asking them things like how was their day, without telling their kids about their day. Having a conversation with your coworker isn’t that different from having a conversation with your kid. So the next time you engage your kid, remember to respect them and talk to them like how you would with others.