We are all so busy, aren’t we? We are running from place to place and obligation to obligation with barely a moment to breathe in between. Our lives sometimes get filled to the brim with things that honestly are not that important. They are things that are “immediate,” but not really crucial.
In the process of juggling all those “immediate needs,” we end up pushing the truly crucial moments to the background.
I’m talking about our kiddos. Those precious little people walking around with our genes and DNA and quirky character traits that drive us cuckoo a lot of the time.
I think we moms are really bad about beating ourselves up with guilt trips over how we are not measuring up to the ideal we wish we were in our heads. To us, no matter how busy we are, there is always more we could be doing for our kids, for our husbands, for our home, for our job, etc.
I read a list on Thursday night of the Top Ten things kids want their parents to do with them, and it hit a nerve with me. I even read it aloud to Chris. It was so simple, but yet so hard.
Needless to say just a few hours later, after the awfulness and horror of Friday’s events in Newtown, it seemed that much more pertinent.
The author compiled the list based on 16 years of classroom polls, and it is pretty interesting to see what she found to be most important to kids. It wasn’t anything complicated or earth shattering.
The bottom line really? They want TIME. Time with us. Time where we aren’t distracted, and time where we are looking them in the eyes and are truly interested in what they are saying.
I know I do far too little of that kind of time.
To help me keep this focus, I took this list and created a printable that I can put on the fridge or on my desk or wherever else I need the reminder.
I took some editorial liberty and shortened it into a list of seven.
*To download your own copy, click the image above. Then click the download button and save to your computer.
Isn’t it SO easy to lose focus on these little people who think the world of us? What do you do to carve out that special time with your kids?
Great post, Renee! Good way to remember to do the little things that matter too with your free printable.
[…] 7 Things Kids Wish their Parents would do with Them… December […]
Como habrás notado, me he quedado leyendo hasta el último de los artículos que escribiste.
Espero que esto te sirva como motivación de que estás haciendo un trabajo muy bueno.
En lo personal, soy amante de los buenos textos y
me gusta seguir a las personas que tienen las habilidades de hacer llegar
experiencias mediante las palabras. Por esta razón te dejo este comentario
y para cerrar quisiera decirte que me ha encantado poder
llegar a tu lugar. En hora buena!