These days parents and kids are busy like anything. This situation changed in post covid time drastically. The work from home model catalyzed this phenomenon. Situation becomes even more difficult where both parents are working. They are not finding time to spend with their kids. So, there is silo or vacuum getting created in family where family members are not finding time to talk to each other. Where this will go from here, nobody knows.
Kids need your attention
Kids would need our attention at every phase. We can never be assured that at any age kids can be on their own. This support may be of different type at different age. But one thing which would remain common is how the communication happens between parents and kids. Are parents spending enough time with kids, understanding their perspective, their challenges, what they are going through? If not, then we are creating different worlds in the same family. It is important to talk to your kids regularly. They would have lot of things to share with you.
Listen to your kids
I have a 14 old daughter, and I can see the frustration in her eyes whenever I am not able to spend enough time with her. I can feel that sometime how badly she wants to share something with me, but I am occupied in my office work or busy with something. So, I make a point to talk to her about her studies, her hobbies and other stuff going around her. Sometimes I am not available to lend her an ear, when she is really looking for my attention, but I keep in mind to make up for that situation in next available opportunity. So don’t have perfect timings all the time but I know this is an important age, kids would be seeing a lot for the first time, they would have lot of questions to ask. So, try to be there as much as possible.
Spend Quality time
These days with exposure to social media, kids behave smart. We should try to understand them, listen to them, spend quality time. From childhood till adolescent age, there is lot going on in their world. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not so good. Parents should have some system or mechanism to spend time with kids. Playing indoor or outdoor games, reading together, or doing DIY activities can help in creating good bonding between parents and kids.
Be their Friend
Parents should behave like a friend with whom they can open and share their thoughts. There should not be any time any effort to do micromanagement. You cannot become a police officer at home, monitoring them always. They can find thousand ways to hide things from you if they don’t want to share. Try to listen whenever you have time, if not, make sure to have sometime block for them. You would never regret that time spent with them.
Childhood is a very important phase in everyone’s life. Kids are like plants; they would need care and support in every phase while they are growing up. It is our responsibility to provide them the right care and support, right environment to grow, so they have strong roots on which they would stand like a strong tree in future.