How to Stop Being a Distracted Parent and Reconnect with Your Child Today

Neglectful, Abusive, And Distracted Parenting

There are ways we all know are “wrong” ways to parent.

There’s the physical, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect where a child is literally not cared for in an unconditional and safe environment, is never or rarely shown any signs of affection and has no basic rights for surviving.

But there are scores of ways to raise them in a healthy way. Questioning ourselves if we’re doing the right thing and course correcting as situations arise. Staying relevant by listening to them actively and understand their immediate needs for being able to thrive.

Raising them not just to chase happiness and success these concepts are abstract and relative to the person chasing them, but to raise them to face failures and keep trying to meet their goals.

For Parents Fighting Distractions

Imagine dinner time at home and how you’re barking orders for everyone to come to the dinner table, but no one shows up. Let’s turn the tables, and now it’s you on your device and your children are trying their best to grab your attention.

As busy parents, we must constantly evolve if we have to stay relevant to modern times. And so must our digital habits. When we engage with our phones and not with our surroundings and the people around us, we’re signaling to our impressionable children that their surroundings and their friends are not that important or interesting.

Here are a few questions we can ask ourselves to stay in the present moment rather than getting sucked into our screens all times of the day.

1. Am I looking for something, could I be doing something meaningful at this moment?
2. Am I letting the virtual world keep me company most times of the day?
3. Am I do everything in my capacity to stay distraction free?

How To Forgive Ourselves And Move On

As pandemic parents, the competing priorities of our professions and our personal lives are making us unhappy. That’s because we can’t accept anything less than to live up to our perfect expectations of ourselves. Every one of us is going through bouts of regret for our lack of mindfulness around our kids on a daily basis.

What we fail to understand is that we can temporarily forget what’s not working, to focus on the bliss of the present moment. The best part is that we redeem ourselves once we start to make small amends along the way.

Not all is lost. Because consider this for a minute. When we tell our children that we love them for who they are and not just for what they are capable of, they begin to respect themselves. And as parents, that’s our first step too. To give unconditional permission to love ourselves first.

And the best part is our children are always waiting for our attention and our nurture. They never judge and want to see us happy.

Here are things we can do with our children at home:

In the mornings:

• Encourage them to make their bed.
• Say goodbyes.

And not forget to ask: What do you plan to do today?

In the evenings:

• Fold laundry.
• Ride a bike.
• Read to them.
• Be there, do everything together.

And not forget to ask: How was your day today?

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