Parents - How PRESENT are you?

When I’m coaching parents I often ask to see a snap shot of a typical day.  It tells me a lot.  I can sometimes easily determine some of the possible causes of the challenges they’re presenting.  For instance it can be easy to see that if 75% of a child’s free time is spent in front of a monitor of some kind and only 25% being physically active, that’s a red flag.  It also tells gives me a clue of how connected or how present the parent is.

Children want to feel connected to us.  They want to know we’re interested in what excites them, frightens them, interests them or worries them.  They need us to speak to them at eye level.  We can so easily get caught up in our busy lives and day to day tasks we forget to just be present.  We’re physically present but not emotionally.  If we’re sitting at a computer or talking on the phone, or reading the paper, or tidying up, we’re not connected to our children.  There are times when it’s to everyone’s benefit to put aside a task that might seem important and just be with your child in a meaningful way.  It doesn’t take a lot of time but it says to them in that moment: “There’s nothing more important to me right now than you.”