Image this: It’s a Monday morning — you wake up to your alarm; before you know it, your children are already running out the door to catch the bus. Once they are home from school, it is a marathon to get dinner prepared, homework done, and everyone ready for bed.

As you reflect on your day, did you feel like you had time to connect with your children?

If this seems all too familiar — you are not alone! Many parents try to connect with their children but get overwhelmed with the idea of needing to plan and execute big and/or complicated activities.

Building and maintaining connections with your children can be simple, habitual and easy.

Therapeutic recreation specialist Jasmine Townsend shared ideas about building and maintaining meaningful connections. She said, “The everyday things that we do at home are so important and very helpful. They matter and there’s a reason why they’re the easier things to do — they don’t take that much time and effort to make happen.”

Children are able to flourish in environments that provide emotional and physical safety, along with the reassurance that the guiding adults in their life are confident in their abilities and efforts.

An easy way to build connections is to show consistent effort. Activities that can seem repetitive but occur daily are prime opportunities to connect. Dinner happens every night — allow your child to help decide what to eat, and then prepare that meal together.

Each day when you return home, or your child gets home from school, spend a few minutes discussing how their day went. Did they have fun with their friends at lunch? Did they run the mile in P.E. class? Was their math test harder than expected? An essential aspect of connection is consistency within a relationship.

In short, connections with your children can be established and strengthened through intentional effort, giving children the opportunity to help plan activities, and focusing on small available opportunities throughout the day.

In our latest podcast episode, we were able to chat with Dr. Townsend about building connections with your children through family time. She shared tips, tricks and ideas about building and maintaining meaningful connections!

United Way of Utah County is on a mission to help every child in our community feel safe, connected, and confident. You can listen to our latest podcast episode at anchor.fm/everydaystrong (or on Apple Podcast and Spotify). Learn more about us at everydaystrong.org.

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