It’s no secret that spending quality time with your child is important. Building a strong and lasting relationship with your child isn’t just about huge moments and memories here and there, but a series of amazing and tender moments throughout their days, weeks and lives.

When kids remember who you are as a parent, they’ll think about the way you were with them when they were getting ready for bed. The butterfly kisses. The number of baseballs you tossed with them. The ice cream you bought after they lost the game. There are SO many memories burnt into their little minds that add up to something huge.

Here are some easy ways that you can add precious minutes and hours to the time you spend with your child during the day.

Listen. Be Interested. 

Be interested in what happened during their day, even if it means listening to all the details about your daughter’s doll tea party or your son’s action figure wrestle mania. Ask a few questions to show genuine interest.

Have At Least One Meal Together As A Family 

Resist the temptation to go eat in front of the television and instead, make it a point to always eat at least one meal together as a family at the dining table. This is a great time for everybody to share their highlights and lowlights from the day. Actually, eat EVERY meal together at the table with every device OFF. Watch how it changes your family.

Play. 

Get on the floor. Play UNO. Go down the slip and slide. Jump on the trampoline. They want to see you joining in and they want to be a part of it.

Work On Projects Together 

Whether it is a class project that your child needs to do or some house work that you are doing, working together opens up lots of opportunities to share thoughts and feelings and to create special memories together. Pinterest, of course, is a great place to get ideas for projects.

Enjoy Some One-On-One Time Together Regularly

While family time is great, children relish one-on-one time that they get to spend with either mom or dad all by themselves. Being the center of their parents’ universe during that time can make any child feel special and that is a feeling that nothing or no one can take away from them.

For children, time spent with their parents is special and they look forward to spending as much time with them, whether they are doing something special or just chilling out. It is during these times spent together that slowly but surely, the relationship between a parent and child begins to grow, develop and strengthen into an everlasting bond.

We love that you’re reading this.

Leave a comment with your ideas for building strong relationships with your kiddos…