As a working mom, time is a precious resource and very limited. There are so many things vying for your attention once you’re home after a long day at work: your children, your spouse, pets, groceries, chores, dinner, laundry, etc.… In a perfect world, our kids would always be the top priority, but realistically that is not always possible. I’ve been better about not overbooking my schedule and allowing more time for spontaneity, but in addition to that, I made a tangible goal of spending a least one night a week of uninterrupted and intentional time with my son.
I often find that I may be sitting down to watch TV and my son is in the same room with me, playing on his own in the perimeter, but not exactly partaking in the activity with me or perhaps I’m distracted on my phone. Although we are physically in the same room, it is not intentional or purposeful. So now I’m trying to incorporate a weekly evening in my schedule where Jonas and I can spend time together doing something where he has my undivided attention and vice versa. This week I used Valentine’s Day as an excuse to bake some treats for our family and friends, as well as a way for us to enjoy some “mommy and son” bonding time.
He loved all the little responsibilities I gave him like: pouring the ingredients into the main bowl, whisking the batter, sprinkling the sprinkles and counting the cake balls and putting them in the individual boxes – not to mention, quality control, which is always the best part of baking anything!
I am not going to lie, it was a long and messy affair and it probably took me way longer than if I did everything myself. But the end result was a happy kid and an even happier mom! Although I don’t plan to bake with him every week as part of our weekly mommy/ son “date night”, I’m already looking up kid-friendly recipes we can do together in the not too distant future.