Family One on One Time

Family One on One Time

My husband and I were beginning to notice that our 3 and 6 year olds were exhibiting some ‘new’ behaviors. They weren’t terribly out of control, but uncharacteristic, nonetheless. The only thing we could attribute their behavior changes to were the change in our family dynamic. Our third child was born in December. While we made every effort possible to maintain life for our boys, the true fact of the matter was that life had changed for all of us . . . there is no way around having a new person in your home.

We were forced to face reality, no matter how hard we tried there wasn’t a way to keep life the way it was prior to baby M’s arrival. After accepting this reality, we came up with a plan. On Friday night my husband would stay home with G and Baby M while I took B to a local Yogurt Shop for a treat. After our dessert we headed to an arcade to play a few games. On Saturday I stayed home with B and Baby M while my husband took G out for a treat and to the arcade. The following weekend we switched kids. My husband took B to watch his friends play basketball and to some batting cages. When they came home I took G to a pottery shop to paint.

Much to everyone’s delight we all enjoyed our One on One Time together. The behavior wasn’t cured over night, but it has improved. We all benefitted from being out of the house for a few hours. It also gave each of our children some much needed individual focus. While at the arcade B wanted to have a photo booth picture taken of the two of us. He then took that picture to Show and Tell in his kindergarten class the following week. When we were practicing what he was going to share with his class about the picture he said “This is a picture of my Mommy and I. It was the greatest day ever because we got to play games together!” If those simple sentences don’t speak volumes, I don’t know what does.