How 15 Minutes Can Change Your Life

Does your story sound like this?  Your is work constant, your to-do list is long and then you have to stop everything to rush off to pick your kids up from school.  Meanwhile you are thinking, “what on earth can I fix for supper that is fast?”  As you are juggling all of this in your mind your kids start arguing or sassing back to you?   Their negative attitude is the last straw that breaks the camels back and you raise your voice.  Sound familiar?

What if you could create that story book night where everyone is happy and calm and supper tastes as good as your grandma used to make it?

You can!  And it only takes 15 minutes!

Here is how:

When you get pick up the kids from school (or get home from work) drop everything and hug them.  Look them in the eye.  Listen to how their day went.

Be fully present with your kids for 15 minutes.

Dinner can wait, the errands can wait.  In reality it all can wait, except those moments with your kids.  

If we rush home thinking that our to-do list (which includes making supper) is all important we just sent a message to our kids that they are lower on the list.  We just missed an opportunity to nurture that bond we have with them.  It might seem like a little insignificant thing to run a quick errand or to immediately go to the kitchen and not interact with your kids, but it is through a series of unconscious “insignificant” actions that distance builds between you and your kids as they grow.  As that distance gets greater, their bond with you can lesson.  When kids don’t feel bonded to their parents,  they are less likely to have that deep seeded respect for their parents during the teen age years.

I hear so many grandparents say, “It goes by too fast.”  Sadly young parents are so busy, we forget to slow down.  I don’t mean for your entire day, just 15 minutes.

A simple 15 minutes assures your kids that you are there for them, it also grounds them.  I guarantee there will be less arguments and more love in your house.

I started this a few months ago and the results are REMARKABLE!  My kids are so much calmer at night.  They are so much happier and so am I.  Who cares if dinner is 15 minutes later than usual or you didn’t get that 1 errand done.  As parents we are teaching our kids how to treat people by how we treat them.  

Take time for your kids and they will take time for others. 

Blessings,

Summer Joy

P.S.  Sometimes I have found that my kids only need about 5 minutes and then they go off to do their own thing.  Other times we start enjoying each other’s company so much we look up and see it is 7pm – way past dinnertime.  But I never regret it, because it the moments we spend with our kids is what we will treasure most in our hearts for the rest of our lives, not how much we got done on our to-do list because we thought we had to. Plus, supper tastes better when you are happy.  : )