We live in an incredibly fast-paced environment. Parents, whose only wish is to be able to provide better conditions and security for their family, often find themselves juggling two or three jobs simultaneously. Given this situation, we dare ask: can these busy parents still find time to nurture a worthwhile relationship with their kids?
As per West Ridge Academy, definitely yes! It is absolutely doable to carry out a nurturing and loving relationship with your children despite the apparent lack of time brought about by the demands of your work.
Listed below are some key suggestions so that parents can maximize their time for their children.
Be sure that your time together with your kids are always quality time. Since in this situation it is already given that you will not have much time to spend with your kids, then it is imperative that whatever little time that you can manage to spend with them be high quality. As much as possible, eliminate all distractions so you could concentrate on having the best possible time with each other.
It's also critical that you talk about updates on relevant things in their lives such as school, their hobbies, or their friends. In this way you will be able to probe and determine if your kids are still following the right path that you laid out for them, or God forbid they may already be partying with the wrong crowd. You must be able to express yourself and say the things that you need to say during these rare times that you get to spend time with them. Just be careful to word your message carefully, or you will run the risk of ruffling their feathers if you come in too aggressively. While you may rationalize that you are just doing your responsibility as a parent, but you must still remember that your children are human beings first and foremost. In this manner, they will always be respectful not only to you as their parent but also to all the other people that they encounter, because that's the way that they have been brought up.
Dinner time should always be family time. You can choose from among a boundless array of topics to be talked about over dinner. Food always makes the discussions seem informal, and it’s much easier to share stories with food on the table. Remember that the discussions should be a two-way street however. While you expect them to be completely honest and open with you about what’s going on in their lives, they also expect nothing less from you. Your honesty and openness in discussing certain topics with them will enable you to gain their trust and will surely be appreciated. It cannot be emphasized enough that during your dinner all sorts of distractions such as TV, radio, mobile phones, etc. should be momentarily set aside. As much as possible, the only sounds that you should be hearing around the dinner table are you and your family's voices and laughter as you share stories all around.
According to West Ridge Academy, you should try to coordinate group activities that the entire family can do together at the same time. Since your time with each other are few and far in between, it's extremely important that everyone in the family should be able to participate in these group activities. For the purposes of family bonding, as much as possible nobody in the family should be exempted when it comes to these activities. Because as far as relationships go: the family that plays together, stays together.
West Ridge Academy is a fully functional K-12 school, accredited through Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, with a student-teacher ratio of 15:1. Opening its doors in 1964, West Ridge Academy has helped over 25,000 troubled teens. http://www.linkedin.com/company/west-ridge-academy
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