Your children may have it all – but do they ever get your time?

The headline “Why time with mum and dad is best Christmas gift for children” accompanied stories based on a new guide from the Children’s Society on how to do things with your children over the holidays. Its research found that children consistently rate spending time with their parents as the No 1 priority over the festive period.

But many parents are so caught up in making Christmas memorable, with a ceaseless round of present and food shopping, that it becomes virtually impossible for them to give little ones the time they crave.

School, in some ways, provides the least of learning. Research by Susan Landry at the University of Texas has indicated that parents and family provide the most important developmental pushes. They establish a context for social learning and speed up the acquisition of language, cognitive skills and children’s ability to play on their own.

The secret is giving a child time and emotional encouragement. But rather than spending time with our offspring at Christmas, we tend to pack kids off for “activities” such as a bowling trip or some other “treat”.

Or we buy them computer games, which tend to require going solo.

Would it be better if we returned to the parenting style of our own youth, when activities meant sitting down and doing something with our children? Perhaps one of the reasons why the period between Christmas and the new year is so memorable for children is because they finally get important adults to themselves. The whole nation collectively chills out. (…)

Source: Times Online, UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3083653.ece