As a parent, you might always think about how to know your child better, what is going on in their life, or their general thoughts. Well, the best way to know details about your child’s life is to bond with them. Having bonding and connection sessions will let your child think that you trust them, and they will soon start trusting you with big and small details of their life. Of course, it would help if you began bonding with your child from their birth, but in between their growing years, there can be times when you feel disconnected from your kid and don’t have a clue about their life. That is when once again, you need to start bonding with your kid and start understanding them once again.
Here are seven ways to build a better bond with your child –
- Affection – As a parent, you should never refrain from showing your love for your children. You can show your love via saying I love you often and even by pampering them and praising them if they have achieved something; even if it was a small achievement, you could compliment them for doing more. Also, hug your child more often. Even if you have lost the connection, the best way to reconnect is to show your affection and love once again.
- Conversations – One of the best ways to bond is to have a conversation together. But keep in mind that you don’t want these conversations to turn into arguments. You do not have these conversations to impose your thoughts on your kid but to know your kid’s opinion about certain things in life. Respect their opinions and thoughts and support them as well.
- Have a game night or a play day – if your kid is small, start playing with them more often. For one moment, be a kid with them and show them that you can be their friend as well. Even if you are a pre-teen kid or a teenager, have game board nights such as monopoly or snake and ladder; you can also make this your every-week ritual.
- Stop criticizing – if you have lost the bond with your child, one of the main reasons would be that you criticize them a lot and thus result in an argument. You need to understand your child’s point of view as well and stop criticizing them for every decision they make. Rather than criticizing, you can make your kid understand your point with patience or give them feedback. Calm feedback will always be appreciated by your kids.
- Spend more time – If you are a working parent, you may not be able to bond that often, but you need to make time for your kid. For bonding, you need to have time for your kid. If not 1 or 2 hours per day, you can at least talk to them for 20 25min per day. This can be when you have lunch or dinner or just in the nighttime.
- Eat together – As mentioned in the previous point, keep a fixed time routine when the whole family can have lunch or dinner together. In this way, your kid will not feel alone, and you can have your conversations there. Plus, you get to spend more time together. During dinner time, you can also teach your kids certain table manners, ethics, and values as well.
- Schedules and rituals – You all can fix certain family rituals for every week and month. Such as, eating dinner together can be your daily ritual, game nights can be your weekly ritual, going out together can be your monthly ritual, and at least having two trips can be your yearly ritual. Rituals teach your child how to maintain relationships and stay connected.
These were some of the universal ways you can build a better bond with your child.