Slow Down! You’re Moving Too Fast! How to Savor the Moments and Memories

High-stress jobs, jam packed school schedules, and extracurricular activities can really eat into your family’s quality time. However, that doesn’t mean precious moments like family cuddles and storytime need to fall by the wayside.

How to Find Family Time in Today’s Fast-Paced World

From the moment our babies are born, we are told that skin to skin contact is of primary importance for bonding and development. We hug, snuggle, and wear our babies and continue to do so until they are too big to sit in our laps anymore (but we still try anyway!). However, as our little ones grow, they show us that they need more independence, and life gets so busy, but sometimes we need to remember that our children still need that closeness with us. I find that when life gets crazy busy, that my children start to act out if I haven’t taken the time to slow down and just be with them.

I recently finished the novel called The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs. It is a story of a mother’s journey bringing her daughter to college. It was a poignant reminder of how important it is to savor each day with your children while they are young. Taking the time to snuggle each one every day, read to them every day, listen to their thoughts every day. These are the times you never get back and are some of the most important ones.

One of the most important ways you can spend time with your children that includes both enhancing their development, as well as quality snuggle time is reading to them. Find a comfortable place, whether it be in a bed, on the couch, or some other favorite spot and get cozy! I like to keep baskets of books right next to our most comfortable chair.

Another way to just be with your children is to take time to ask about their day. Find just a few minutes to sit quietly and find out the best and worst parts of their day. Share the same about yours. This will pave the way for them to share the important things that might be going on in their lives when sticky situations arise in the teenage years.

As we speed through life, take some time to slow down and just be. I know I certainly need that time with my children.