Just Kiddin Around
If there are any parents out there who seem to battle with the never ending juggling of kids and all the associated activities, I think I just may have a solution for you that has been very effective for me……no kiddin!
As noted in previous blog entries, I have become very reliant on scheduling almost everything in my life and for me, it has proven to be successful. So why not include what I do with my kids into my scheduling routine? That being said, I did! My challenge was not that I didn’t take the time to do things with my kids, it was more about the quality of what I did and giving my kids a higher level of interaction while at the same time, ensuring they were involved with varying developmental, educational and fun things.
What I used to do was schedule “kid time”, but I would not actually set a specific task in that time slot. Instead, I would just roll with it and do what ever came to mind. The problem this created was that during the length of a day or weekend, we all get worn out and that scheduled kid time can sometimes seem to weigh you down if you don’t have a plan. It then impacts the benefits that both you and your children draw from the interaction. I started planning specific events like going to the library, or a painting event, or book reading time and setting those specific actions as scheduled events in my Outlook Calendar, which then synchronizes with my Blackberry. The end result has now created a more clearly defined plan, more variety for my kids and has also increased the quality of the planned time with my kids.
We take the time to plan business meetings, dinner parties and many other things in our lives….why not take the time to plan in detail the most important job of all, raising our children. Once the plan is in place, the only thing left is all the kiddin around!!