MAKE TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS!

Do what you say you’re going to do...and DON’T GIVE UP

In our house, we move on quickly from one thing to the next. Lilah goes to Montessori School and there they teach children to complete a job and put it away before taking something else out. I’m trying to implement the same program at home so toys aren’t left out all over the house.

Last night I was up reading over blogs I’ve written before they’re posted. Since I write a lot in the middle of the night, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something completely crazy that I wrote in a delirious state;) As I was going through them, I was reminded that I had mentioned I’d set an alarm on my phone as a reminder to myself to dedicate time completely to my daughter every day at 2pm to play whatever she wants. I must have gotten sidetracked because I never set that alarm and as life goes on, I didn’t complete the task I started.

Accountability is a good thing in life – to do what we say we’re going to do and follow through to completion is something I want my children to learn. If we try gymnastics this year, we’ll see it through until the end of the year before moving on to something else. Our kids model everything we do and how am I going to teach them that when I haven’t followed thru myself?

So, this morning, with a million things to do, I stopped to take time to play with my 1 year old while my daughter was at school. We worked on a puzzle with animal sounds, raced his cars around the floor and then played catch with his ball. His smiles and giggles filled the air and it occurred to me that a year has already gone by and I spent it frantically trying to maintain a clean house, which never happened anyway, instead of working to fill our home with laughter. Not only was he smiling from ear to ear, but I was too! We crawled all over our tile and wood floors in our pj’s. I had new appreciation for what his little knees must feel like at the end of the day and I couldn’t have been happier. We probably only played for thirty minutes at best but I know his day was made better for it and so was mine. He was ready for a nap afterward and by taking a half hour out of my day to focus all of my time solely on him, I earned a quiet home to finish the rest of my work.

In the past, I’ve let my ego and pride get in the way. I’ve felt that I have important things to get done and constant interruptions by my children would frustrate me. But at the end of our lives, what is more important than the time we spend with our precious little ones who just want our love and really, just a tiny bit of dedicated time. The joy that filled our home this morning was like no other. I came to the conclusion awhile ago that if I complete my work before or after the kids are asleep, my day is infinitely better. I don’t feel the need to be selfish of my time and if I’m a little sleep deprived, oh well. I can always take a nap with them during the day, why not? Is the laundry really that important? After all, I only have to throw it in and take it out – back in the day, people had to scrub that stuff! So thankful I live in the 21st century;) Whoever invented hangers – genius! Why fold when you can hang up? It takes half the time. Now if I can just teach my kids to put away;)

So I’ve officially set the alarm on my phone. One for 9am so I can play with Drew while Lilah’s at school and one for 2pm so I can play Anna to my Elsa while Drew’s napping. I can’t wait to see how many laughs I can bring to her beautiful face today!

What are you going to do with your child today?

#makingtime