Collaborative post – I have been compensated for my time
With Christmas right on the doorstep, it can be difficult to manage the household and plan for the special day all at once when there is so much to do. This means that every now and then, it’s easy to forget to manage the children properly and get everyone on task.
When there is a lot of planning going on and you are checking everything last minute, the kids can become bored, disenchanted or even naughty. Lack of attention, especially for children used to it can be a nightmare for parents so here are a few simple bonding tips.
Hug It Out
This might go without saying, but hugging the little ones is one of the most effective and simple ways to bond with them. The body’s natural “feel good” chemicals are released in the brain through the sense of touch, and being closer such as with a hug elevates the feeling. This not only makes a child feel loved and safe but has a huge impact on adults as well.
Emotional Attachment
Kids love the sense of importance by being included in something and personalized items create an emotional attachment experience that is second to none. The increase in the popularity of tailored gifts such as personalised birthday cards and interactive books has done wonders for one-on-one engagement between parent and child by not only encouraging reading but building self-esteem and helping with language development.
Smiling
Just like hugging, smiling can also release hormones such as dopamine. Whereas hugging might be up close and personal, smiling is like a hug from afar. Whether it’s a conscious effect or not, the act of smiling also affects your body language which can be a huge factor in making children, and indeed other adults feel comfortable. A smile reassures a person that everything is OK.
Conversation
With all of today’s modern technology and TV, some families might have lost the art of conversation with each other. It might be all too easy to just let the little ones play with a tablet or leave them to their phones. Delays in conversation, especially with younger toddlers have been proven to cause issues with language development later on, while spoken engagement with children will help them to feel appreciated, included and accepted.
Encouragement
Stemming from the art of conversation, encouragement might possibly be one of the biggest factors in a child’s development. It doesn’t matter how much a child is loved or how many things they have, all children need encouragement from the people they respect. Lack of encouragement has been proven to have severe negative consequences for a person later on in life such as poor motivation, social skills and negative behaviour.
Giving a child approval as and when it is necessary such as completing an assignment, doing well on a test or being good at a hobby will raise their self-esteem and prevent them from seeking it out by some other means such as hanging out with the bad kids, engaging in sycophantic behaviour or even outright lying.
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20 Comments
what a great post, youre kids are very lucky
This little things we do can really affect our child growth, this is really an eye opener for many parents that doing this things really strengthen the family simple communication or a show of affection really is in need.
Great reminder – thank you. Children should always feel valued and special, but the problem at Christmas is that presents are involved which muddles the scene so that value and specialness comes from the size and specialness of the present.
What a lovely post. It all seems very sensible but, quite honestly, so easy to forget when parenting is stressful. Thank you, Clare.
lovely post
Merry christmas i hope your boys had the best day
I love interacting with my kids 😀 I will talk to my 4.5mth old little girl and she will smile and make noises back. I even wait until she’s finished babbling and then talk to her again, it is lots of fun and makes you giggle when shes on a talking spree. Her face is so expressive and it is like she is really trying to tell you everything lol
A timely reminder, but even the best parents can be undone by their children’s or their own tiredness
I love this I don’t think we realise some times how much kids are suffering and these are great ideas
Hope you have/had an amazing Christmas
great tips! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
One thing I have really missed this year is being able to hug my daughter and granddaughter. Hopefully in the New Year we’ll get vaccinated and be able to visit them.
Very interesting blog post. I think the most important point is conversation, modern technology can take over so easily. Happy Christmas
Christmas is all about the kids and making them feel special.
I think that it is so important to talk to your children and also to listen to what they have to say.
Couldn’t agree more with this, it was announced yesterday that we would be in tier 4 boxing day. So we all chatted about the changes. We talked about how that made us feel and what we could all do together so we don’t get bored and can still have fun. We’ve put the ideas in a jar to be picked out when we’d all like to do something. It’s all little things like playing a board game, having a pamper day with make up and face masks, going for a walk with our dog.
Lovely post on what children need . Those huge are priceless . I think they’ve all been little hero’s this year x
We do lots of hugs in this house and lots of talking, it really is the best way isn’t it.
I have tried extra hard this year to make Christmas feel special for the kids bt doing alot of fun activities
Going to be a magical Christmas for al