Communication Isn’t Always About Talking

I wanted to share an email I received from one of my dear friends and a TOG parent, Carolyn West. We often strive to make our children’s childhoods so full of… full of activities, full of travel, full of experiences. In reality, our kids’ lives are full because they have us to listen to them, to share their interests, and to give them a hug when they need it. Just being close to each other is sometimes enough.

Dear Roma,

I thought you would appreciate this little incident that happened yesterday. My youngest was home from school due to parent/teacher conferences. Of course, even though she had the day off, I still had work to do and unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to take the entire day off to spend with her. As I worked on my laptop, she sat beside me most of the day and watched YouTube videos. I offered to take her out to lunch, but she said she’d rather us go pick something up and bring it home so we could have lunch with my other daughter who generally comes home from high school for lunch most days. So that’s what we did. Later in the afternoon, she looked over at me and said, “Thank you, Mommy.”

“Thank you for what?” I said.

“Thank you for the great day.”

“But we didn’t do anything today, honey. Was it a great day just because we got to spend time together?” I asked her.

“Yep. I love spending time with you.”

It’s so true. We don’t have to go out and make a big production of the day. We can just sit quietly side by side doing our own thing. My daughter just wanted to be near me and be able to show me a video or tell me a story. Sometimes that really is all they want… these crazy kids of ours.

Thought this was worth sharing.

Carolyn

If you are looking for some easy ways to connect with your kids, try the Take 5 approach. For five minutes, pause every errand, every to-do task, every recurring thought, and just hang out with your child doing no-thing! Just be present with your kids, open, aware, and relaxed in each other’s company. Hold hands, stare into nature, look at trees, flowers, or the sky, and really feel the shared space in quiet, with no agenda.

 

Carolyn West is a blogger at This Talk Ain’t Cheap and runs the ConnectHER Media Conference. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

 

Carolyn and Lauryn

 

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