Do You Have Time For Me, Now?

As a parent expert, I am constantly inviting parents to take time for them and their kids. When I say time, "quality time."

Let me define what quality time is. It is that time where nothing else is important, but the time you have being present in the moment. You do not have the tv on, computer on, your phone, social media, etc. It is 100% presence.

Imagine if we just showed up with presence, how would our kids show up? 1 of the biggest issues I hear about is our kids not having any attention, or focus. What that translate to me is, our kids have no idea how to be present.

Did you grow up hearing it is not the quantity, it is the quality? I did. I finally understood this when I had my own children. Raising the my 1st two boys as a single mom, working 2 jobs. Now they are adults, and what they remember is how I showed up. It was easier back then, because cell phones and social media were just starting to creep into our world.

In this time, it is not an easy feat, being we are so busy with working from home, parenting, on line learning (subbing as the teacher/principal) and finding "family quality time for kids, spouse and self"

Here are a few tips that I adopted during this time, after I heard not once but several times "mom, do you have time for me now?"

1. Made a schedule from the time of waking up until the moment I went to bed.
2. Blocked the time that was my kids time, our family time, my husbands time and MY time.
3. Gave myself GRACE when I was not able to stick to my schedule each moment of each day. Grace = stop the self beating, and recognize what I am doing right.
4. Plugged my phone to charge in a different room when it was my time to present with someone.
5. Gave my kids the anticipatory guidance they needed each and every day so they knew their time was coming and I still saw them and heard them.

Your kids will not remember everything you said, they will remember how you showed up ~Veenu Keller