THIS TERM IS DEFINED DIFFERENTLY BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE
The times we live in offer a handful of content along the way demanding speed in everything we do. Even children are not "spared" from this reality. However, despite all the changes in the environment, the human brain has remained the same and I need the same contents as before, especially during the period of growing up.
Almost every parent wants to spend quality time with their child. However, this term is defined differently by different people.
In order to prevent confusion about this term, we will define it as Dr. Lyce Elliott, a professor of neuroscience at the Chicago School of Medicine, did: "Quality time means one-on-one interaction between parent and child, where all the attention of the parent is focused on the activity he is doing with the child - reading a story, making up a song, building a sand tower, walking in nature, helping with homework." Therefore, quality time spent does not mean simply being in the same room with the child, driving the child to different activities or any other form of activity in which the adult's attention is not completely focused on the child and the activity that is performed separately.
Research has shown that quality time spent with a child is directly related to the child's intelligence and later academic success. In addition, quality time spent is also related to a child's creativity and emotional intelligence.
However, it is not easy for all parents to come up with activities for spending quality time, so below we offer a list of examples:
§ A walk in nature with a conversation about the environment in which you and the child are currently. You can talk to your child about the plants and animals you see, the importance of the sun, rain or other weather conditions for nature, the importance of preserving the environment and ways in which the child can positively influence his environment, such as throwing trash in the bin, reducing food waste, etc.
Creating a special ritual with the child such as reading a story every night before bed, going for a walk at a certain time of the day, etc.
Cooking together with the child, where the child would be assigned tasks according to his age and capabilities. For example, a child can be in charge of bringing food from the fridge, washing vegetables and fruits, kneading dough with a parent, and the like.
"Rose-Thorn-Bud" check-list: refers to a conversation with the child in which he should state: Rose - success or a positive situation that happened to him during the previous period of time; Thorn - a difficulty or challenge that has gone through or is going through and Bud - something that the child looks forward to and hopes for. This activity helps children monitor their internal processes, verbalize desires and express positive as well as negative feelings. It is important for the parent not to be judgmental while talking to the child, but to listen, understand and support him even when (especially when) the child talks about something bad that he did or that happened to him.
If you are a parent with multiple children, it is important that you spend quality time with each of them separately, one-on-one. Obviously, this can be very time-consuming given the amount of responsibilities, if this is the case, arrange with the children how they will rotate so that each day someone else has their one-on-one time with the parent on a pre-planned schedule.
Adjust the schedule of quality time to your obligations, enrich daily activities with your attention and, from a simple trip to the store, to kindergarten or the dentist, make space for your child's learning, maturation and progress.
Jovana Dimkic