When I first learned about having 1-1 time with my child, I couldn’t connect as I never experienced one as a child.
I asked Vaishnavi to pick an activity, but at the same time I started to plan how the activity should go and I still had thoughts about unwashed dishes and emails at the back of my head.
As Vaishnavi started to explain the rules of the game the monkey in my brain felt it wanted to be heard as well. There is a child inside all of us. The child that once felt lonely, unheard, frustrated, wanted to be seen, or just wanted to be heard.
Of course at the end of the game neither our bucket got filled. It was a challenging day till bedtime. A child that goes to sleep without their attention and power bucket being filled is a child that fights sleep.
Over the years I’ve learned what one-on-one time with my child is like. Yesterday after brushing our teeth and as we put on our pajamas, Vaishnavi brought her basket and discovered there are straight lines in her lotion bottle and obviously she started to check if other bottles have that too. We discussed and discovered what are barcodes and what kind of information do they provide us. She then reached for the thermometer to check our body temperature. As I continue to lie down on her bed and watch her with curiosity she started checking other parts of the body with the thermometer. Our hands, feet, nose, eyes, chest, and even navel point. Hey, it was pretty fun I would agree! It was interesting because the temperature of both eyes was the same. Not in a million years I would have checked the temperature of my eyes.
We laughed and we did more silly things with the thermometer. And when she was done she put the thermometer back and told me let’s read a book to go to sleep. She brought two books and we read them as she held on to our reading light. When we finished, we kissed goodnight and slept. There was no fuss, no cry for another book, or fighting not to go to sleep.
Motherhood can be challenging, can be different every day. But children are simple human beings. Learning social-emotional skills is a key to a happier fulfilled life. Learn more through our Brainbow Box today!
