Tips to Connect with Your Child

We may find ourselves amidst days filled with busyness – getting kids off to school, work, appointments, extracurricular activities, dinner, homework, and bedtime routines.  Before we know it, we realize we didn’t have an opportunity to spend time with our youth.  While the intentions are there to have this great quality time, we may not know even where to start with building it into the already busy schedule.  This may lead to feelings of guilt, frustration, inadequacy.  Name the feeling, and I guarantee almost every parent has felt that way at some point along their parenting journey.  The important key to remember, though, is that parents can be successful in connecting with their youth – it just has to be prioritized!  Below are some tips that may help:

• Make this time to connect with your child a priority
  • Put it in your calendar to ensure that it will be done!
• Be creative in planning time with each child
  • Plan something on the weekend to spend time with each child
  • Have some alone time right before bed, or even right away in the morning
• Have a trusted babysitter, or even tag team with spouse, to ensure this connected time will happen
  • Ask them to watch other kiddos to ensure time spent with a child
  • Maybe have this person connect with your youth, too, especially if you’re tag teaming with your spouse!
• Find ways to send special messages
  • Embrace social media and have fun messaging!
    • Perhaps have a family group text message or social media message!
    • Send messages directly to your child with words of encouragement!
  • Write a note and put it in their lunch bag, backpack, or on their bathroom mirror!

This blog post was written by Post Adopt Coordinator, Darcy Solem, LBSW