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    • Homeschooling 101: What to Teach and When to Teach It
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50 Quick and Easy Ways to Connect with Your Kids

July 14, 2020 //  by Colleen Kessler//  2 Comments

Written by Colleen Kessler of Raising Lifelong Learners

You’ve been running since early in the morning. Meals, lessons, chores, clean up, calls, and more meals…

You’ve spent the entire day with your kiddos, but as you take some much-deserved time to relax on the couch while the littles are tucked into their beds (finally!) for the night, you realize that you haven’t actually spent time with any of them over the course of the busy day.

Sure… you were in the same room as your kids.

But the connection and relationship-building you know is so important to their healthy development has been put on the back burner again.

You’re not alone.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily life-ness that happens all around you as you homeschool and parent your kiddos. It’s also easy to give in and let the guilt take over.

Us homeschool mamas are really great at proving to ourselves how terrible we really are at this whole thing, right?

Connecting with your kids in little ways throughout the day doesn’t have to be time-consuming though, and it’s a great way to build their resilience and foster strong emotional intelligence. Instead of overwhelming yourself with the idea that you need to do something big to connect throughout each day, try slipping small connections in the spaces of each day.

These are little, intentional acts that remind your kiddos you love them and they’re super important to you.

Here are fifty ideas to get you started (you can grab a cute printable of this list here):

  1. Talk about their favorite food
  2. Ask about their favorite movie
  3. Smile
  4. Play cards
  5. Laugh
  6. Hug for the longest time ever
  7. Make up your own secret handshake
  8. Snuggle on the couch
  9. Wrestle
  10. Play a board game
  11. Dance
  12. Make up your own game
  13. Sing a song
  14. Make up a song
  15. Sing along with some music
  16. Be quiet together
  17. Color together
  18. Read a book
  19. Tell a true story
  20. Make up a story
  21. Tell them a story of when they were little
  22. Tell about something that happened when you were little
  23. Look at family pictures or baby pictures
  24. Write in a journal together
  25. Try a new craft
  26. Bake cookies
  27. Cook dinner together
  28. Tell a joke
  29. Be silly with each other
  30. Get down to their level
  31. Look them in the eye
  32. Share a snack
  33. Ask questions
  34. Write a note
  35. Talk less; listen more
  36. Make paper airplanes
  37. Find cloud pictures
  38. Play Tic Tac Toe
  39. Play Tag
  40. Play Sardines
  41. Give back rubs
  42. Paint each other’s nails
  43. Brush each other’s hair
  44. Take a walk
  45. Do an exercise video together
  46. Make a fort
  47. Catch lightning bugs
  48. Be curious
  49. Ask them to play with you
  50. Tell them you’re grateful they’re yours

This isn’t an exhaustive list, by any means, but rather a place for you to start. If you grab the printable (HERE) you’ll have these starter ideas at your fingertips and can add to them as you discover more little acts that bring you and your kiddos closer together.

Researchers tell us that it takes five to seven positive interactions to offset one negative one, and if you’re anything like me, you get frustrated and scold your kiddos or meltdown over their math from time to time.

Building in little connections throughout the day can serve as a kind of a positivity bank to shore up your relationships with your children, and build their emotional intelligence so that you’re never running at a deficit. Use this list to get you going, and come up with ideas of your own to add to it.

I hope you’ll use these as inspiration to connect with your kiddos in little ways all throughout the day, and to spark your own ideas custom to the needs of your sweet ones.

What are some of your simple connection ideas?

Category: family time

About Colleen Kessler

Colleen Kessler is a gifted specialist, educational consultant, author, speaker, and homeschool mom of four gifted/twice-exceptional kids. Find her at Raising Lifelong Learners.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Celeste Orr

    July 14, 2020 at 11:21 am

    I LOVE this, Colleen! I write about family togetherness every week, and I still find that it takes so much intentionality to actually connect with my kiddos every day. I love your ideas, and I’m definitely going to be using them and sharing them with the mamas in my world. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Colleen Kessler

      July 14, 2020 at 1:31 pm

      💕💕Thanks Celeste!! I find it harder sometimes to remember to do this with my own kids as I’m always talking about it to others. The shoemaker’s kids going shoeless and all that…

      Reply

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