Parenting Blog

"I give my kids plenty of attention.  What's so special about Special Time?" - Emilee

"My daughter went out into the cul-de-sac to roller skate. I went out with her and we held hands and I pulled her in a circle round and round so hard and she laughed and laughed until she fell on the ground. She kept coming back for me and I just kept doing it over and over again. This is what I love....You are very specific and your ideas work and I see results immediately! We had a great night!" - Christine

"Special time is priceless because it symbolizes the parent’s unconditional love for the child." - B.J. Howard

Every parent I know who has started making time for Special Time with his or her child has told me that they see significant changes in their child's behavior.  Why?  Because we live in a stressful culture that disconnects us from each other, from our feelings, from our own inner wisdom.  Special Time:

• Reconnects us with our child after the rifts and separations of everyday life, so she's happier and more cooperative.
• Gives the child the essential--but unfortunately so often elusive--experience of the parent's full, attentive, loving attention.
• Gives the child a safe place to play out the everyday issues that all kids need to work through, such as feeling powerless, by reversing the roles and letting the child lead.
• GIves the child a regular opportunity to express scary feelings and ideas to a compassionate, trusted adult who will listen and help her work them through.
• Deepens our empathy for our child so we can stay more compassionate and see things from his point of view.
• Builds a foundation of trust and partnership between parent and child which is a precondition for him to trust us with his big feelings when he's upset (as opposed to lashing out.)
• Convinces the child on a primal level that she is central to the parent, that she really matters, that she is important. (You know she is, but often she doesn't.)

Every child benefits from Special Time to reconnect with each parent often, if possible every day. Think of it as preventive maintenance to keep things on track in your family. And if you're having issues with your child, it's the first thing to change.  Often, it's the only thing you need to change.

How do you do it? 

1. Announce that you want to have special time with each child for ten minutes a day, as often as you can.  Call it by the most special name there is -- your child's name.

2. Choose a time when any other children are being looked after by someone else (unless they are old enough to stay occupied with something.)

3. Set a timer for ten minutes.  Turn off all phones so you can't hear incoming calls.

4. Say "Today you get to decide what we will do with our 'Jonah time.'  Tomorrow, I get to decide.  We'll alternate.  So now I am all yours for ten minutes.  What would you like to do?" 

5. Give your child 100% of your attention with no agenda and no distractions.  Just connect to your child with all your heart.  Really notice your child, and follow his lead.  If he wants to play with his blocks, don't rush in to tell him how to build the tower.  Instead, say what you see without interfering:  "You are making that tower even taller....you are standing on your tiptoes to get that block up there..."   If she wants you to pull her in a circle on her skates until she falls down, over and over, consider it your workout for the day and make it fun. Resist the urge to judge or evaluate your child. Don't take control or suggest your own ideas unless she asks.  Refrain from checking your blackberry.  Just show up and give your child the tremendous gift of being seen and acknowledged.

6. If she wants to do something that she isn't usually allowed to do, consider whether there's a way to do it safely since you are there to help her.  Maybe you always tell her that it's too dangerous to jump off the dresser onto the bed, but for special time you can push the bed next to the dresser and stay with her as she jumps to be sure she's safe.  Maybe he has always wanted to play with his dad's shaving cream but you weren't about to let him waste a can of it, or to clean it up.  For special time, you might decide to gift him with his own can of cheap shaving cream and let him play with it in the tub, and then the two of you can clean it up together.  If you can't grant her desire (go to Hawaii), find a way to approximate it (make grass skirts and play hula dancing together.)

Why bother?  Your child learns that you really do care about his desires, even if you can't always give him what he wants (so he's less likely to feel like he never gets his way, and more likely to cooperate in general.)  And since these desires will no longer be forbidden fruit after your child has a chance to indulge her curiosity and experience them, she's less likely to try them behind your back.

7. When it's your day to decide what to do, initiate games to build emotional intelligence and bonding.  That usually means roughhousing in a way that gets your child giggling.  I know, it sounds like too much energy. But it's only for ten minutes, and it will energize you, too.  I promise.  Favorite themes include:

• Separation and reunion (Peekaboo, Hide 'n Seek, "No, don't leave me!")
• Power ("You can't get away from me!  Hey, where'd you go?  You're too fast for me!")
• Rebellion, control and breaking the rules ("Whatever you do, don't get off the couch! Oh, no, now I have to give you 20 kisses!")
• Mock aggression (Pillow fights)
• Fear ("I'm the scary monster coming to get you...Oh, I tripped... Now, where did you go?  EEK! You scared ME!")  Be just scary enough to get your child giggling, not scary enough to scare him.

You might also tackle a specific issue that your child is struggling to master, by, for instance, playing school.  Let him be the teacher and assign you tons of homework and embarrass you when you don't know the answer.  Or play basketball and let her dominate the court.

In all these games, the parent bumbles ineffectually, blusters and hams it up, but just can't catch the strong, fast, smart child who always bests us.  The goal is giggling, which releases the same anxieties that are offloaded with tears, so whatever gets your child giggling, do more of.

Here are some links with examples of more games:

Games for Bonding and Emotional Intelligence

Let's Get Physical -- Games to Connect with Your Child

Games to Connect and Bond with School-Age Kids

More Games to Transform Tears to Laughter

8. End Special Time when the timer buzzes.  If your child has a meltdown, handle it with the same compassionate empathy with which you would greet any other meltdown ("It's so hard to stop...you can cry as much as you want, Sweetie...I am right here") and give him your full attention in his meltdown.  But don't think of that as extending special time, just as you would not give your child anything else he has a tantrum about.  Special time needs boundaries around it to signal that the rules aren't the same as in regular life.

9. Be aware that often your child's emotions will bubble up during special time, especially at the end.  That doesn't mean she's a bottomless pit.  It means she feels safer with you after this time together, so all those feelings she's been lugging around are now coming up to be processed.  Or it means that letting go of you  brings up all those feelings of how hard it is to share you.  Often kids use this time to express their upsets, so it's good to schedule a little cushion at the end in case your child has a meltdown, especially when you're just starting out, or when your child has been having a hard time.  When the meltdown begins, just empathize, and give yourself a pat on the back for being the kind of parent your child trusts enough to express all these big feelings.  Once she cries, they'll dissipate, and she'll feel so much better--and so much more connected to you.

What's so special about special time?  It transforms our relationship with our child.  And since that relationship is 90% of our parenting, you can't get more special than that.