5 Creative & Mindful Ways to Spend Quality Time With your Kids
To a child, love is spelled, T-I-M-E
~ Zig Ziglar
Summer holidays are the best, yaay!!
Yaay!!! to longer days, bbqs with friends, salty hair and tan lines.
Also not so yaay to-
“Where do I take the kids today?”
“We’ve done the obvious- beach, playgrounds, cinema, sleepover, camping”
“The kids are having too much screen time; damn I’m not giving them time” and killing yourself with mum guilt.
The truth is, You’re busy! And you know you want to give your best quality time to your kids. I’ve always suffered from mum guilt during my corporate life, so I know how ugly it can get.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
You can slow down time and be completely present with them in that 1 hour you spend with them.
All you need to do is Practice Mindfulness with your Child. No, I’m not talking about sitting cross legged chanting Om together.
So, what am I talking about?
Well, I’m talking about doing fun outdoor activities with the kids in nature, and being mindful about it.
Why Spending Time Mindfully Matters and How not being Mindful leaves you feeling empty
Now, if you’re like me, you take the kids out always- to parks, for bike rides, to the beach- but no matter how much you take them out, do you come back home feeling exhausted and just empty. I always felt like, How come I spent all afternoon with them outdoors and yet I feel so disconnected with them and just tired?
Till it dawned on me that in all honesty, I wasn’t really spending time with them- I was only playing chauffeur. And while they played in the playground, I sat on the bench, in my own world, mostly watching some stranger’s life on Instagram Stories.
This had to change- so I decided to practice mindfulness with my child in the most fun way.
Mindful and Fun activities to connect with your children
1. Ponder on the human insignificance as you stargaze with your kids
The Universe is such a great tool for teaching especially young kids about perspective and teaching them that in this big Universe that we are a part of, where so much is going on, and telling them that in the grand scheme of things, perhaps our problems are not too big as we think of them to be.
The Summer Sky is great for stargazing! The night is warmer so you can sit outside (extra points for hot cocoa and marshmallow) without much fuss and fascinate on the vastness of the universe.
How can you make Stargazing fun? You can play games like,
How many constellations can you spot?
How many constellations can you make on your own?
How many planets can you see?
Can you see a satellite? Or even a shooting star?
It’s always so fun to discuss with kids how these celestial bodies are all doing it’s own thing in such synchronicity and how we are like a speck of dust in this grand universe….where you can see Jupiter like this brightest star is actually a gaseous body spinning around the sun.
2. Discover the abundance in nature
Nature is a great tool to teach the children about how abundant nature is and how we can live in that abundance mindset.
Go for a walk with the kids, but take it super slow, being mindful- honestly, rather go for a 15 minute walk and take 30 minutes to do it. Stop and marvel at nature- realise how everything in nature is thriving- the birds with their sounds, the swaying branches of the trees, the new leaves that are sprouting, Nature is always thriving.
Discuss with the kids on how we are a part of nature and so our default state is to thrive- just like the birds, trees and animals.
3. Get Planting
Plant a garden or even some indoor plants together and rejoice in the birth of a new leaf/flower. The kids will be excited to watch a new leaf unfold. You could even let them take a picture everyday of the new leaf/ flower to create a timelapse.
4. Relive your childhood
Your kids have only known you as an uncool mum; let them discover the cool as child in you.
What activities to play with kids? Play with your children their favourite games outdoors and make up silly games. You could also teach them games that you yourself played as a child (this works well especially if you were brought up in a different country) Revisit your childhood and relive those memories with your kids. Once you’re all tired, lie down on the grass, tell the children a story from your childhood and connect with them- they’ve only known you as a mum; they’d love discovering the child in you.
5. Art, Mindfulness and Memories
Build a fort in your backyard, (just need old curtains/flat sheets) and spend time in there drawing and colouring the view in front of you. You don’t need to be living amongst a picturesque backdrop for this. Make it interesting by discussing and drawing things from different perspectives- How would your backyard look if you were a giant? How would the grass blades look if you turned into an ant….. Because you are observing things differently, you will automatically be mindful in noticing the things around you. Now, no one is required to be a Picasso here. The objective is to have fun, so, the more terrible the image, more the laughs, more the memories.
Conclusion
The best thing to do as a family this summer is to spend time outdoors together. Nature offers so many benefits, both physical and mental, that it’s worth the effort to check out different outdoor activities you can do together. So, with this article as inspiration, get out there and have a great summer holiday; and try to do most of it mindfully.
And I’m sure both you and your children will be recharged and refreshed to tackle life after the holidays.