I have promised myself to be present whenever I am around my kids. There are too many things in our society that we multitask, and we are always on the run, going somewhere, fixing something, talking on the phone, watching TV, updating our Facebook status or uploading a picture on Instagram. I just need to do this. I just need to do that. There is never a quiet moment.
Have our kids become a new thing we just squeeze in to our already overfilled calendars?
I don’t have many hours with my kids during weekdays. Coming home from work, there is dinner to be made and eaten, dishes to be done, and clothes to be washed. What do the kids think if we spend that last hour of their day on the phone or checking our email while they are showing us how good they are at jumping off a chair or to draw an airplane? Or that we babble along on the phone while we build a Lego house supposedly with them? Do they feel like worthy and important people? What does it do to their self esteem? And what do we teach them? That it is ok to do something else when somebody is trying to get your attention? It is not without reason that both my children at very early ages picked up a cell phone looking thing and walked around pretending to talk on the phone sounding important. I decided to take action and be more aware of what I do around them.
I try to define the time when mommy is available and not available, so the kids know what to expect, and don’t get disappointed. If I need to make a phone call, I tell them why. If I need to pay a bill I explain why. And if I cannot sit with them until they fall asleep because I need to finish some work I tell them why. And then I try to be there 100% for them when I can.
Well, I am not a superhuman, and this morning I found myself giving my one year old some raisins to eat so that I could publish a new post here. Bad on me. From now on blog time is dedicated to after the kids go to bed. And I will play with them instead of trying to get some good shots of them to upload to Facebook or Instagram.
Anniken Binz 
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I work with young people and every day I hear “my parents are busy, they don’t have time for me” such a sad statement. Time given to our children is the most important, they grow up so fast 🙂
That is so sad. Our world is moving to fast. People squeeze in more and more stuff in their daily lives. No wonder stress is one if the main factors behind a great percentage of peoples physical and mental illnesses. It is not healthy for us, and of course not for our children. Children need to feel that they are important. If everything else comes before them it will affect them in a negative manner. There are so many things that are sqrewd up in this world, but the kids are our future and hope, we should take good care of them.
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