A Child’s “Special Time”: Giving Individual Attention
If you have more than one child, it is sometimes hard to give each child that individual attention they need and crave. One mother found a way around that obstacle. Because I think it’s such a wonderful idea, I am dedicating today’s entire column to this one suggestion. Read on to see what this mother did.
One-on-One Time
“With three daughters close to the same age, quite often I found it hard to give them undivided attention. So, I started a time that I called their “special time” where I’d sit with each one, individually, for about 10-15 minutes each night before they’d go to bed. During this time, I did not take any phone calls or talk to anyone else. We’d sit in their room, (actually, we’d usually lay on their bed), and talk about anything they wanted to talk about.
When we first started this, it was kind of strange and they really weren’t sure what we were supposed to be talking about. It didn’t take them long to get in the swing of things though. After just a few days, they realized that this was truly their time, and their time only! After that, they really looked forward to their special time at night and would already have in mind what they wanted to discuss. Sometimes we talked about a problem they were having with their school work, another time it would be a problem with a friend, and as they grew up, we talked about problems with boyfriends. I never knew what the topic would be each night!
After our time together, we would say prayers and they would drift peacefully off to sleep. This time made them not only feel special and let them know someone really cared, but also made them feel “heard” in the midst of a busy family!
The unexpected advantage to this story is that when they were little, their problems were little. As the girls got bigger, so did their problems. But, because I was there to share their little problems when they were little, it was completely natural for them to share their bigger problems when they were bigger!”
I think that’s such a wonderful idea! With the hustle and bustle of everyday family life, there is no greater gift we can give to our children, than ourselves.
Carol Schmidt
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This is a really good idea and something I should do with my children. Thanks for sharing with #SundayBest x
This is such a lovely idea. This is something I’m going to introduce in our house, starting tonight. It’s so important that we give children a way of feeling heard. #SundayBest
What a lovely idea, and so great that when the problems got bigger the communication was still there x #SundayBest
This is such a great way to make time for each child – especially when times are hectic and family time isn’t always possible. I only have the one child, so don’t have the trouble of making individual time for more than one, but I can imagine it is easy for every to not have their own ‘parent’ time – growing up as the middle child in a family of three, I know I definitely felt like that sometimes. I love that is ‘solution’ helped as the children got older, and it sounds like they had a great open and honest bond. #SundayBest
That is such a lovely idea. I only have one child at the moment but if i have more I’ll try and do this. I like giving my son one on one time with his daddy. That’s good too! Thanks for linking up to #familyfun
Oh yes I am a big believer in making time for the little problems now so that they will (hopefully) want to share the bigger ones when they’re older. I have two very close in age and worry they don’t have enough time with me on their own. This is a great idea thank you for sharing it at #familyfun xx
It is a really nice time when you can have individual time with each child. I really liked her statement about the ‘little’ and the ‘big’ problems. #familyfun
This is a great idea and even with only one child it sounds like a good idea to have this special one to one time guaranteed, without interference from other people or devices. It’s a wonderful custom to start while kids are little to provide a space for communication that remains as they grow older and still feel they can talk to you about their problems. #BloggerClubUK
I think that’s a great idea. It’s so important that children get individual attention. And it is so often missed in the hustle of modern life.
Thanks for the reminder
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