Don’t you think maybe they are the same thing? Love and attention? —Greta Gerwig
How do you get through to your kids? How do you show them what’s right? How can you make sure they know how much you care about them? The answer is simple: you can be there. A lot. There is a joke that the word love is actually spelled T-I-M-E. It’s true. Your kids won’t have to wonder, they won’t need to ask—you, or your partner, or other people—how you feel about them if you are constantly there to show them. If you have prioritized your time with them over everything else. Being there also alleviates the pressure to “find the words” in those trying moments, because you’ve been having an ongoing, regular conversation with your kids the whole time. The words are there.
But being a great parent is not just about those pivotal moments. It’s not just providing for them or getting them into a great school so they can get ahead in life. It is mainly, and mostly, the day-to-day T-I-M-E. It’s the modeling, each day, of what being a good person looks like. It’s the showing, each time you see them, that you care, that they’re important, that they are loved.
It’s about being there. A lot.