Image Credit: Juliane Liebermann from Unsplash.
The most important relationships for a child will be the ones they have with their parents. You’ll already know that, and you’ll put a lot of time, effort, and love into looking after and caring for them. It’s also important that you take the time to actually bond with your kids.
It’s a key part of building and strengthening your relationship with them. It doesn’t just affect them in the here and now, but also for the rest of their lives and well into adulthood.
That’s why it deserves so much time and attention from the start. Despite their best interests, however, many parents don’t know how to do this properly. You could find yourself in this position, but it’s not something you’ll need to settle for.
Instead, it’s just a matter of using the right strategies, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It’s worth diving into some of the more effective of these.
Why Is It Important To Bond With Your Kids?
Before diving in, it’s worth looking at why you should bond with your kids in the first place. The fact you love them – and vice versa – and want to actually look after them should be more than enough to put the time and effort into it.
As it turns out, however, there are more than a few benefits to putting the work into this. You’ll already see some of these benefits to an extent, but mightn’t be seeing it as much as you should.
Some of the more notable benefits of it include:
- It creates healthier, happier relationships between you and your kids
- It shows them you actually love them and want to take care of them
- It makes them more likely to come to you when they need something
- It fosters better relationships with them well into adulthood
These aren’t just great for your kids, but they can be great for you, too. It’s more than worth putting the time and effort into bonding with your kids. You’ll need to know how to properly do that, however.
While this seems complicated, it doesn’t have to be. There are more than a few ways you can do it, some of which can be much easier than you’d think. Seven strategies can help more than you’d think.
By trying a few of them, or even all of them, you’ll bond with your kids much better than you would’ve thought you would.
Bond With Your Kids: 7 Great Ways
1. Tell Them You Love Them
Perhaps the most obvious way of bonding with your kids is to tell them you love them regularly. While you’ll expect they’ll already know this, it shouldn’t mean you shouldn’t bring this up every now and again. It can help with your relationship a lot more than you’d think, especially when it comes to bonding.
At the same time, it shows them the importance of telling loved ones they actually love them. You should hear them say this more and more, and it shouldn’t be something you shy away from. Make sure you do this regularly. You don’t even need a reason to say it to them.
2. Actually Show Your Love
Speaking of love, you shouldn’t just tell your children you love them. You should actually show them. It’ll help make sure your kids actually know you mean it. Anyone can simply say it, after all, but it takes much more to actually show them. That’s why it’s worth investing some time and effort into this.
Hugs, kisses, and similar steps can all be great for this. It’ll even help to create more affection, letting you bond with your kids even more. Despite how small these seem, it shows your love more than you’d think.
3. Be Available For Them
There’ll be plenty of times when you’re with your kids when you’re not actually focused with them. Grocery shopping, watching television, and similar times are some of the more notable of these. In most of these cases, this doesn’t qualify as bonding with them, as neither of you are actually focused on the relationship.
Set aside some time every day where you’re actually available for your kids. Get rid of any distractions and actually focus on bonding with them. You’ll end up creating a better relationship in time with this. While that means moving a few things around your day, it’ll be worth it.
4. Play Games With Them
Spending time with your kids is always recommended, but it’s worth taking the time to actually do something with them. Focusing on something you and them enjoy can help you bond with your kids a lot more than you’d think. That’s why it’s worth taking the time to play games with them.
There are plenty of these to choose from, and you don’t even need to go with video games for this. From board games to Sudoku, there are countless other options out there. Take the time to do this with them regularly, and you’ll bond with them better than you’d think.
5. Eat Meals Together
You’ll make meals for your kids constantly, but how often do you actually sit down and eat with them? If you’re constantly busy, that mightn’t be nearly as much as you’d like. It’s worth taking the time to do this as much as you can, especially considering how much you can bond with them over it.
It gives you – and them – time to actually talk to each other about the day and get closer together. Nothing replaces family meals, so you should take the time to actually have them. Make this a priority going forward so you can actually bond with them.
6. Listen To Them
Kids want to feel like they’re being listened to, which is something everyone wants. Unfortunately, children often aren’t listened to nearly as much as they should be. You could dismiss them often because you don’t think what they’re saying is important. That’s not something you should keep doing.
Instead, take the time to properly listen to them when they want to talk to you. They’ll appreciate it much more than you’d think, and you’ll get closer to them before you know it. You can’t bond with anyone without listening to them, after all, so put some time and effort into it.
7. Set Boundaries & Rules
Children need guidance and structure when they’re growing. While you mightn’t think this can help you bond with your kids, it could help much more than you would’ve thought. It’s just a matter of showing them why these rules and boundaries are in place.
The better your kids can understand this, the more they’ll understand you’re simply trying to look after them. They’ll realize you’re trying to protect them and that these rules and boundaries are actually there for a reason. While they mightn’t like this at first, they’ll grow to appreciate it in time.
Bond With Your Kids: Wrapping Up
You’ll need to bond with your kids if you want to have a healthy and loving relationship with them. While you’ll already know that, you mightn’t be sure of exactly how you can do it. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be nearly as complicated as you could think.
It’s just a matter of focusing on the right areas, and you’ll bond with your kids much better than you would’ve thought. You’ll have a healthy and loving relationship before you know it. With the importance of putting the time and effort into this, you’ve no reason not to.
