Ever heard of the saying “the days are long but the years are short”. We are all guilty of that feeling where we wish the day would progress a lot quicker. The days where we feel we have accomplished zilch and all we can see are the negatives; dishes piling up, the living room floor fading away under a sea of toys and realising it’s mid -afternoon and we haven’t even managed to brush our teeth. The thought of our child’s bedtime on the horizon gives us the last push to make it through dinner and bath time. This has been me with child number one, two, three and four, however, before I could really reflect, child number one has almost reached thirteen.
I’ve slowed down a lot with number four and have learnt to be more present. I’ve learnt to sit still for longer and really be in that moment with my child. Once you start to do this you’re able to learn about their personality at a deeper level and as a result can read their cues more easily. After all what any parent wants, is for their child to be happy. Turning your attention to your child strengthens the bond you have together and you will fall deeper in love with one another.
EVERY INTERACTION COUNTS!"
"PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE
PAYING ATTENTION TO!"
"Paying attention to what we’re paying attention to” sounds obvious but how many times have we ‘pretended’ to engage with our child, whilst distracted by our phone or something on the TV? Every connection we make with our babies will grow their brain. Babies and young children have an amazing capacity for this and positive interactions with their parents or caregivers will grow and wire their brain and form pathways for life. Unfortunately, the connections that are not used will simply fade away and this is referred to as ‘pruning’.
So, next time you are feeling overwhelmed with the fifty five things on your ‘to do list’. Take a moment to make that connection with your baby, whether they are one, or thirteen. As I’m pretty sure most of the ‘jobs’ you have to do, whether they are completed or not, will have very little significance towards your child’s happiness. However, those connections you help to create, will stay with them forever and be used as tools to negotiate their future happiness as adults.