The Best Gift For Children Is Time

Time, this is the best gift for children. They don’t sell it in toy stores or on the internet. We find it only in ourselves, in our availability and in being aware that a story should not be read in 2 minutes.

Dedicating time to children does not mean leaving their cell phones, giving them a tablet or tuning the television to their favorite channel. This is not education, nor love nor affection.

Childhood is one of the most important phases of life, during which the web of our evolution is woven. Thus, children are immersed in millions of changes that sometimes we adults do not even perceive and that, for this reason, we can get lost if we do not pay attention.

Slow-parentig: raising children over a low heat

Educating and sharing the “slow fire” moments means respecting their rhythms,  giving them the space they need to develop, not allowing them to skip the steps and making sure that they grow and evolve without the stress and needs that we have generated around they.

This perspective of education is based on the slow philosophy, which manifests the need to privilege a calmer pace of life, thus promoting maturity, evolution and the creation of bonds from the child’s natural progression process, without haste.

In this way, it is possible to support the little one in every step, without forcing the evolutionary stages and offering psychological oxygen to his education, forgetting the grades and filling every educational moment, every demonstration of affection and every collection of reasons with fun.

May hurry not rob you of the magic of childhood

Haste is the worst counselor. It robs us of the most precious moments and the most wonderful details of childhood magic. In fact, if we stop and think, perhaps we could remedy it.

Duties, tidying up the house, taking a shower, football at six, birthday at eight, having dinner at ten … All day at a trot or gallop. What will we get like this? Are we enjoying our children? Are we aware of what we are missing and what we are making them lose?

Probably not. We must commit ourselves to reflect if we offer TIME to our children,  if we play enough with them and if we organize their days by carving out moments in which we dedicate ourselves exclusively to them and to us.

In this regard, it is important:

• Don’t always be in a hurry from the early hours of the morning. We wake up our children with affection and offer them a healthy breakfast with love and tranquility.
• Enjoy each meal with them without distractions, such as television and newspapers. We can play hide and seek, we can talk about everyday things and deepen the expression of feelings and emotions.
• It is good to cut out the ” moments of secrets”,  during which to speak in all sincerity about our personal things.
• We can hike to quiet places with beautiful landscapes and places that invite us to explore and experiment together.

• Instead of taking a shower in a hurry, it would be good to take a nice bath from time to time.
• It is essential to let them choose for themselves, sometimes we plan their days too much and don’t care about what they want, their expectations and decisions.
• Turn off cell phones and all those electronic devices that, as we know, absorb our attention.
• Sometimes we could just relax anywhere in the house and do absolutely nothing.
• Look for games that enhance their creativity, intelligence and listening skills.

We do not let our children’s education be determined by the rush or bad habits of today’s society. The best gift is not to send them to the production studio of the trendy cartoons or the latest Disney puppets. 

Images courtesy of Karin Taylor