How to build a deeper bond with your child in 10 minutes a day
An easy way to build a better relationship with your child, while at the same time making it more likely that they will cooperate with you when you need them to.
My husband told me something today that almost made me cry.
But let me start at the beginning.
You see, one of the most common tips that I have received from the parenting experts I interviewed over the past year is to schedule daily time with your kids, where you just sit with them, focus you attention on them, and engage with them for a short time (10 or 20 minutes).
Tia Slightham, a best-selling author and founder of Parenting Solutions, calls this "Golden Time".
So, over the past few months I have started to do this. With my daughter, every night before bed we sit in my room, and she goes through my jewel case while I brush her hair. We call this time "alone time with mom".
Well, today my husband told me that a few nights ago, my 4-year-old daughter was sitting on his lap, watching him play computer, when she turned to him, smiled, and said "Mom is the best mom in the world and I love her. I'm going to spend alone time with her now." Then she jumped off his lap, and ran to my room.
When I heard this, I felt like crying. It felt so good to hear that what I am doing is making an impact on my daughter.
In my interview with Tia Slightham she explains why Golden Time is such a powerful tool to build a connection with your child:
“Golden Time” is one of our most important tools that we use in our family, and also in the thousands of clients that I’ve worked with. Because what we need to do proactively in advance is make sure that our children’s entire roadmap for their needs is met in advance.
And part of that roadmap includes their power and attention buckets, which are really important emotional needs that our kids have. And Golden Time is one of those things that help fill those buckets.
Tia Slightham
In the interview, Tia shares the five critical ingredients of Golden Time to make it as effective as possible.
She also explains how to get the most "value" out of the Golden Time you spend with your children, and how to use Golden Time to not only fill your child's need for attention, but to also help fill their need for power or control.
She also shares some common mistakes that parents make when they try to implement Golden Time.
If you are looking for an easy way to build a better relationship with your child, while at the same time making it more likely that they will cooperate with you when you need them to, then check out my full interview with Tia Slightham - How to parent smarter, not harder in our ebook How To Get Kids To Listen, available for free download here.