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While amusement park vacations and lavish Christmas celebrations may be more significant in most people’s memory, the grandiose doesn’t take the forefront in everyone’s heart.
Maybe it is the small things—going on a picnic by the riverside one hot summer day, gathering around for a game of monopoly, baking cookies with the kids—that make some of us feel connected. Maybe it is what most people deem ordinary that truly brings a family together.
Parents should remember that it’s the everyday habits they hold dear that will always be most cherished, not whether they have organized a birthday party you usually find on Pinterest boards or have taken their kids to Disneyland yet.
When you become deeply tuned in to the people around you—when you put aside your hectic schedule briefly to listen, to laugh, and to love them—that’s when the words that matter resonate with their hearts. You are loved. You are valued. This is where you belong.
Connecting deeply with your children doesn’t have to eat up a lot of your time. You can fill their cups with positive attention and affirmation in just a few minutes at a time, several times throughout the day.
Here are 4 effective daily habits that build connections:
Begin the day with positivity in the morning:
Mornings can be the busiest you’ll ever be throughout the whole day. It can be a real struggle for families to get everyone up and out the door on time.
Oftentimes, our children are tired, grumpy, or preoccupied with concerns about their day ahead while our minds are focused on the dozens of things we have to do in the next 12 hours.
Just taking a few minutes to look at your child in the morning and say something positive can make a huge difference. “Good morning, my sweetheart!” “Seeing your sweet face makes me happy” is a thoughtful way to begin a child’s day.
To begin the day, think about the Triple-A principle: attention, affection, and affirmation.
Spend at least two minutes giving them your full attention, hug them or rub their heads, and tell them something good about them. Introducing this habit into your daily routine will establish a sure way to start the day on the right foot.
This habit is a vital part of the 4 effective daily habits that build connection solely for how important it is to begin a day with positivity.
Afternoon or After School Get-Together:
When the children get home from school, do they scatter in all directions? That’s what they tend to do. No matter how old your children are or whether you homeschool, building a connection point after school or in the afternoon can be very beneficial.
Whether you arrange a tea party, or an afternoon snacking on some crackers and dips while playing a round of Scrabble, or read a few pages from a favorite book, you can make the afternoon memorable for all.
This habit in the 4 effective daily habits that build connection is again your chance to spend time with your loved ones in an undistracted environment, and it only takes a couple of minutes of your afternoon. If an afternoon get-together is impossible, you can adjust it to a gathering after dinner or before a bath. No matter what time of the day it is, it doesn’t matter! What matters is the time you spent.
A Hearty Family Meal:
Certainly, it is not always possible to have a family dinner every night. Maybe a morning breakfast meeting is better, or a dessert party in the living room while listening to music late at night would work well.
According to some researchers, family meals nourish the spirit, brain, and health of all family members. It promotes a healthier eating habit for kids, improves their social behavior, supports their academic growth, and boosts self-esteem!
But we don’t need research to tell us that gathering together for a conversation over good food matters, do we? Now is the perfect time to begin this connection-building routine if it hasn’t already been on your list.
Like the others in this list, this is an important part of the 4 effective daily habits that build connection as it ensures a sure way to start a conversation.
Bedtime one-on-one:
This is a time to give your kids individual attention, which you may call “special time”. You will be surprised by how much your children may crave this moment with you.
This routine can help build a special moment in your child’s day where they can talk about how their day went, without being interrupted.
To start, you may set at least 10 minutes per child but you shouldn’t be restricted to talk beyond that. You may find your child opening up their heart during this time. On rare occasions when they don’t have much to talk about, you may instead ask them three questions: “Did something good happen to you today?” “Is there something you want to ask me?” “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
As the day draws to a close, most of us are ready to retire for the night. We might even have this inevitable tendency to rush through the bedtime routine to finally have that elusive “me time” most of us always crave the entire day. But consider how spending a few minutes to have a heart-to-heart with your kids may be the highlight of your kids’ day. It is worth pushing back an episode of Grey’s Anatomy just a little longer, isn’t it?
This is a perfect conclusion to the 4 effective daily habits that build connection. It gives a positive closure and sets up your family to a positive morning of laughter, warmth and love.
These are all positive parenting techniques that you as a parent can incorporate into your daily routine. They’re all guaranteed to build connections, something kids these days may have been missing in their lives because of mobile phones and other electronic devices that distract both you and them.
Do these 4 effective daily habits that build connection and the last thing you know, you have built a bulletproof connection with your kids that they will take wherever they go.
