Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0
Quality Time with Your Child
Working parents spend a lot of energy trying to make up for
their absence from their children. Research has shown that
both the quality and quantity of time parents spend with
their children are important.
If you interact with your child, actively listening to him,
talking with him, and keeping it pleasant, that's quality
time. Children need some quality time with their parents
every day.
You can turn scattered moments during a typical day into
quality time by following these guidelines:
- Talk with your child during the drive to and from child-
care.
- Include your child in adult activities such as shopping,
cooking, and home repair. As long as your make him feel
important or even helpful, you are giving your child
quality time.
- When you first get home from work, try to snuggle with
your kids for 5 minutes. (Giving them the first
30 minutes, as some experts suggest, is usually
impractical unless you are breast-feeding.) Then give
them something to do and look after yourself. You
probably had a more stressful day than they did, and you
may need to regroup, as well as prepare dinner.
- Make dinner a pleasant, unhurried time with the TV off.
- Use the 30 minutes before bedtime to discuss your
child's day with him, at his pace. End with your usual
bedtime ritual.
If you're providing some of this quality contact every day,
you're doing great.
A common mistake of working parents is to think that bed
sharing is quality time. This isn't a good choice. If your
child is asleep in your bed, we could call this neutral
time. If your child is awake and crying, it's aggravating
time. If you want to provide extra quality time with your
child, set aside some special half days on the weekend for
child-centered activities.
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