How to Share Quality Time with Kids

Health, Home & Family, Kids
on November 11, 2010

Spending time with a child doing something special is an important way to demonstrate your love and strengthen your relationship. Here are five ways to share fun, quality time with your daughter or son.

Get beautiful. Take a preteen daughter on a shopping trip for her first makeup. Many department store cosmetic counters offer to apply makeup and give makeup lessons if you buy a product.

Sleep under the stars. Surprise a child just before bedtime with an invitation to a campout. Haul out the sleeping bags and snacks you’ve prepared ahead of time and head for the backyard or the living room floor. What you chat about while dozing off may be the most meaningful conversation you’ve had in a while.

Get into the groove. Engage an older child by working together to create playlists of songs that enhance family activities. A selection of fast-paced tunes will pump energy into chore time. Choose soft, classical music for homework time. Kids may roll their eyes, but studies show that listening to Mozart in the background may enhance concentration and learning.

Personalize their space. Help a child organize or redecorate his or her bedroom. Go together to pick out paint or anything else needed to spruce up and maximize the efficiency of this personal space in kid-friendly ways.

Get smart. Enroll together in a class at a community college or YMCA. Learn something new together, such as jewelry making, golf or yoga.

Whatever you do, turn off your phone and disconnect from the rest of the world—and ask your child to do the same—so you can make the most of your time together.

This article was originally published as How to Share Quality Time with Kids on DailyParent.com.