Time for Children

Quote of the day: “The best thing to spend on your children is your time” (Arnold Glasow, in Richard Evans’ Quote Book, p. 18). A couple weeks ago I was sick so I spent hours laying on our couch, one of our little girls was sick as well. So I laid her down with me for a couple hours. It was so enjoyable! Although I generally hate being sick, the experience was a wonderful reminder to me that time with our children matters. I've been thinking about ways to make more time for my children and here are some of the ideas I came up with:

Three easy ways to make time for your children

Simplify - don't spread yourself too thin. Recognize the things you can "let go of", for me when I had my triplets it was landscape design work, I had to be much more careful of work that I accepted - if any. I enjoy politics very much and I had to let go of that.

Schedule it - give yourself several hours to get the house chores done that you need to and then stop at a certain time and sit down and play with your children. I've found if I do this its amazing how much I'm still able to get done knowing that I have a deadline in which to accomplish my goals. Set aside at least 15 minutes a day to be with your children one on one.

Sacrifice - Take note of the things that you do daily that ties up your time. For me this was surfing the internet and especially facebook. I decided to make a conscious effort to only get on facebook once every two days and I was amazed at how much more time I found myself enjoying, and I was surprise to see how little I actually missed my internet time. Children need our time. Parents play a key role in helping a child develop a healthy level self esteem. Children need our love and the best way to show our love for them is through time. I love my kids and I'm so grateful for them.