Welcome to Week 4 of the series! I’ve been wondering if it might suit everyone better if I posted these on a Monday instead? Would it make more sense to begin a new intention at the start of the week? Let me know and I’ll happily change the day. OK, so here’s what I’ll be working on this week.

WEEK 4 – BEGIN EACH DAY WITH PLAY

At the start of each day spend some time playing with your kids. Even just ten minutes of play can make a difference. Read a book, dance around the living room, head outside and run around, play hide and seek, do a puzzle. This can set the tone for the entire day.

I know this might sound impossible – especially if you have school age kids and they need to be out the door and there’s barely enough time to get some breakfast into them let alone fit in a game of hide and seek. Believe me I know. I work out of home two days a week and we need to be out the door by 6.45am. I’m lucky if I can run a comb through my hair on those mornings! But for a while now, on those days when we are at home, I’ve been spending some time playing with R before we do anything else and the change in our days has been significant. It really does set the tone for the whole day. I used to run around doing all sorts of chores in the morning. I would put some breakfast in front of R and then leave him to his own devices while I made the beds, unstacked the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, and anything else that needed attending to. It would sometimes be well over an hour before R and I had spent any time together at all. Now, we play first. Our whole day turns out differently when we do this. We’re more relaxed, there’s no battles over getting dressed, (something that used to take up to 30 minutes to accomplish!), and we’re just more connected and happy. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to incorporate this into the mornings when we have to leave the house early. Getting out of bed ten minutes earlier is not an option! So, on those two days I’m going to try reading to R while we’re eating breakfast together. 

If you are joining us for the first time ~ welcome! At the end of this post you will find the links for week 1 through 3. Each week for the next ten weeks, I’ll be sharing one simple idea that you can implement today to foster a more connected relationship with your child. It is my hope that by the end of the ten weeks we will be more present for our children, and more mindful of the type of parent we want to be. With each idea being so simple, and with only one intention to focus on each week, I know we can do this. Will you join me?

If this is your first time visiting One Perfect Day – welcome! If you like what you have found, please join us on our Facebook page. We are always sharing new ideas to play, learn, create and explore.

Here are the links for all 10 weeks of this series.
Week 1 – See them.
Week 2 – Listen.
Week 3 – Say yes.
Week 4 – Begin each day with play.
Week 5 – Come from a place of love.
Week 6 – Believe in them.
Week 7 – Let them be themselves.
Week 8 – Switch off, tune in.
Week 9 – Be a real person. Share yourself.
Week 10 – Be kind to yourself. You are enough.