Life is lived in Moments
Life is lived in moments.
“We must make money to make a living. But remember that we must make memories to make a life” (Phil Callaway: Author of I used to have answers, now I have Kids)
I remember vividly the first time I laid my eyes on my first child! I simply kept starring at him. He was so small and beautiful. I felt like asking him "So you are the one who has been in my tummy all this while?" I expected him to be dark-chocolate like me but he was so yellow-boned. That shocked me to be honest! He got it from daddy's fairer skin. That moment was precious indeed to me and my husband!!
Thinkabout some of your precious moments: The moment you when you said 'I Do".
Whenyou got the new job! Your favorite car (or toy)! The degree you have sweated
day and night to achieve...! The day you fell in love... I can go on and on. All
these are precious moments indeed. Let me bring your attention to the mundane
moments of your day. These can be turned into memorable moments.
Bath time| Drive Time| Bed Time
Bath Time is a regular activity in most homes (I hope….); you can turn this into a connection time with your young child. Do the bathing yourself as much as possible. It can become your one-on-one connection time with your child in the whole day. Ask and teach about body parts, sexual safety for your child importance and scarcity of water some parts of the world. Pretty much, talk about anything. Kids simply to interact with their parents. Talk to them. It builds deeper connections.
Drive Time is a privilege when you can. Please stop moaning about the pick-up and drop-off runs. I can get grumpy about this myself. Kindly turn off the radio and listen to the conversations in the car. You learn a lot! Younger children like to spill the day’s activities as soon as they sight you. Teenagers talk! (Especially if you are car-pooling). You know about their friends and their way of thinking. Ask questions like “What happened at school today?” These have potentials to becoming teaching moments when you ‘notice’ something. If you are intentional, you will find teaching moments almost daily such as: an ambulance racing past you; a beggar at the traffic robot; stopping completely at the STOP SIGN, etc. These can be used to teach life lessons to your child. Drive time can become moulding and memorable moments for everyone.
Bed time is my all-time favourite! Reading and slowing down so your little ones can settle easily to sleep. Bed time can be deep (I know hey…deep sleep)! Reading to your child can increase his/her language nutrition and curiousity for knowledge. It enhances her comprehension abilities. READ READ READ. We learn to read so we can read to learn. Readers are leaders, right?
Final tip: If you can’t make it home before bed time to read to your little one; you can take a bed time story book with you to work. You can call home to read to your child before he/she goes to bed! It communicates ‘present parenting to your child.
I shall speak more into bedtime in the next article.
Look out for the mundane and turn it into a memorable moment for you and your family.” Never forget that families are to be enjoyed and not endured”
Bolanle Enang| Family Life Enthusiast | www.capacitygrowth.com