Parenting Plan: Month 1

My Family

As I have said before, I am one of those super busy, stressed out, distracted Moms and I wish there was somewhere I could turn for advice from a real-life person going through the same things I am.  I want to improve and I want to be the best Mom I can for my kids.  And…  to be honest I feel like I’m failing miserably at it right now.

I am working on a monthly parenting plan based on my own personal experiences to help me be more engaged with my kids.  I will post about what things work and what things don’t in my family. But, most of all, I’m just excited to spend more time with my kids in which I’m not distracted in a million different ways.

GOAL FOR MONTH 1:  Spending one-on-one time with my kids every day

I know this sounds ridiculous and I’m embarrassed to say I spend lots of time with my kids every day (driving them around, answering millions of questions, helping them get things done, doing daily chores, eating dinner together), but really next to none one-on-one time.  I take them on a monthly “date” somewhere special, but I don’t feel like that’s enough.  I’m even more embarrassed to say that yesterday I had a conversation with my 8 year old that went like this:  “Mom, do you like it when we go to birthday parties?”  Me: “Yes, why?”  My daughter: “Because then we wouldn’t be bothering you”.  I was floored and frankly sad that she felt like she was a bother to me.  Something has got to change and it’s not my kids!

So, I’m going to move on from that conversation and do something about it.  I’ve decided for the next month (until July 15) I’m going to spend 15 minutes of one on one time with each of my 3 kids every single day.  I don’t plan on doing anything necessarily structured, I just want to be spontaneous, and in the moment with them.  I want them to know I love them and want them around.  Right now, it kind of seems impossible to carve that much time out of my busy schedule, but if I can’t carve 45 minutes out of my day for my children, something is wrong and I’m not being the best Mom I can be.

I will post on my experiences weekly, so stay tuned!

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