This is the part of a series of short posts that are meant to be like little nudges of counsel from what I’ve been able to experience with my 5 year old and my 2 year old.
Setting the time slot
Even though my daughter does not realize it, I schedule time slots in my day to talk with her. Time I know, would be badly spent listening to a morning radio show, watching TV, or doing some less important thing. Instead, I welcome the opportunity of getting to know my five-year-old better. She may argue at first and request to do something else. Anything else. But once we begin, she speaks her mind fluently.
Shut off and switch on
I’ve made it a rule of mine, that each day when I take her to school, I talk about anything and everything with her. No Nintendo DS’s, No YouTube Cartoons, etc… just the two of us getting aquatinted with one another. That’s 45 minutes of knowing her better (and viceversa).
At the end of the time alloted for our talks, I feel even more proud of her. I see how she’s growing up and what’s been going on on her life. I give her input if needed and guide her when required. Maybe when she gets older it will become more difficult for this, but if we make it a habit now, maybe later it will be easier.
How about you, do you separate similar time slots to converse with your “younglins”?
Well I can’t talk with Daniela yet but once she is ready to talk I guess it will probably run us over 45 minutes LOL…. But I really think it is key to focus and set up some time for our kids. With me every time Daniela smiles at me and Lucy is busy I make sure to take her in my arms and a spend some time with her.
Neat post!
Being the age she is doesn’t mean you can’t talk to her yet!
Let me re-phrase I do talk to her.. She has no choice but to listen back. I know she answers back but not to the point where we have a conversation 🙂
We would have conversations with our mom while she was bathing. The only time we had conversations with dad was when he was scolding us or we had to tell him about something bad that happened to us in our personal lives. You are building a great bond with your daughter and she will be able to talk to you about anything.