In most cases, there is a significant age difference between you and your child. The age difference then means your both most likely are into different things. For example, you would rather relax, sip on your tea while watching your favourite talk show, whereas your child would rather play hide and seek or a game you do not even understand that they had just made up.
The sadness in their face when you show lack of interest in the activity that they want to play immediately breaks your heart. What do you do, miss out on their juicy topic on the talk show you are trying to watch or put a smile on your child’s face by playing the game that they had just invented, have fun and connect with them on their level.
According to the Child Development Institute, all parents should worry about not connecting with their children as often as they should.
Positive Parenting suggest the following tips on how to connect with your child on their level:
- Channel your inner child, think like a kid and shift your mindset to one that more closely resembles their own. Do simple things like star gazing and telling them imaginary stories.
- Have daily one on one time, no child wants a parent that is too busy, children require lots of attention therefore set aside even if it is one hour on a daily basis just to play and connect with them.
- Take time away from technology, the world that we live in now is technology savvy, you see a lot of very young children with phones or iPads. Instead of connecting with you, they are connecting and bonding with the internet.
- Introduce a YES Day, a yes day is basically a day where you agree to every realistic thing that they want to do, often kids are reprimanded and told NO like “No you can’t sleep late, no you can’t have ice cream for dinner, no we can’t have McDonalds because there is rice at home.” This is often disheartening to them, therefore saying yes to them for a chance can strengthen your relationship.
