Let’s explore 5 ideas to enjoy a really good day with your preschooler. Before we do, begin the day with gratefulness. Each morning, you have the privilege of waking up to the fact that a little, warm body and heart knows you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to them. Their love knows no bounds and their only expectation is you are there for them. Embracing this perspective and holding onto it through the day lifts the level of your experience together. Welcome the realization that this very precious chapter of life is happening here and now and you are grabbing the opportunity to savor it.
Follow the example of preschool age children every where by living in the moment. Today, this precious childhood characteristic and view of life is yours. Capture the space between your thoughts to be in the moment with your child. It is too often we deny our being of this awareness with the business and responsibilities of the day. Opportunities for spontaneity and light-heartedness, sharing fun, fantasy and magic will arise out of the blue. When we are consciously in the moment, we are aware and able to take in the joy of a child’s laughter, the beauty and uniqueness of the time and place we are in.
With this state of mind established, let’s take a look at five ideas to enjoy a really good day with your preschooler.
1. Share Meals Together
Today, sit down and share every meal together. This may appear to be a simple suggestion but when a meal is considered an event, it invites a regular and often overlooked opportunity for connection. The meal itself need not be grand nor extra work. It is the focused, uninterrupted time enjoying food together that is enjoyable.
Invite your little one to help prepare the meal or set the table by assigning age-appropriate tasks. Contributing to the meal brings a sense of pride to your child. Invite conversation as you both work. “I love raspberries because they are a beautiful color. What is your favorite fruit and what makes you like it so much?” Or, “How do you feel when you eat soup on a cold, winter’s day?”
Once the meal is ready, sit down together at the table and simply enjoy this uninterrupted opportunity to eat, talk, giggle and share a few moments.
2. Enjoy Nature
To enjoy a really good day with your preschooler, time together outdoors is a must. The sights, sounds and scents of nature fill souls with goodness as senses are awakened. The choices for physical activities under bright blue skies, snow or rain are bounteous. Your preschooler will have plenty of ideas of what to do together. The challenge will be to keep up with them!
Play games, toss a ball, walk, pack a picnic, explore and discover nature together. When is the last time you rolled down a hill? You don’t necessarily need to travel far. A school playground, a park close by, a walking trail or your own backyard offer endless opportunities to enjoy time together in nature.
Share your knowledge about a type of tree or flower. Ask your preschooler what they know about squirrels or an interesting-looking rock. Children play harder when they are outdoors than indoors. Enjoy the energy, creativity and freedom your preschooler experiences outside in nature. Take a deep breath of fresh air yourself, acknowledging and savoring this shared time outside.
3. Play at Their Level
Children are small. Most of the day, your little one must look up to interact with the many things in their world. When communicating, parents look down to speak to their preschooler and their preschooler lifts their chin in response. Their arms reach up…to be held, to handover a broken toy to receive a high-five countless times a day. There is quite a distance between a parent’s face and a child’s eyes.
To enjoy a really good day with your preschooler make a little adjustment with a lot of power. Sit with them on the floor. Enter their little world below, where you are both able to see eye to eye and connect heart to heart. What a joy your child will experience sharing their play with you at their level.
While you are down there together, share a puzzle, play Go Fish, lie down on your tummies and make faces at each other. Which brings us to another idea to enjoy a really good day with your preschooler.
4. Share a laugh
Everyone loves a laugh, but it is especially joyous when you get to share a laugh with your child. The moment is special and the connection is powerful! To enjoy a really good day with your preschooler, humor and fun need to be present. Take a break in the often heavy parenting responsibilities you feel by not taking life too seriously today.
Horsing around brings a light-hearted feeling to your home and helps your child feel comfortable and relaxed. They may even laugh at themselves. Being spontaneous and catching your little one off guard with a game of tag or a funny knock-knock joke pulls them into a shared and treasured moment. It also reminds them that you have a sense of humor.
I bet you can find moments scattered throughout the day, no matter where you are or what you are doing, to act silly and share a laugh.
“Humor is one of those functions that can really promote positive emotions between a parent and child. Just because parenting is a serious business is no reason to be serious about it all the time. Taking time for a moment of levity with your child during your daily routine means you’re making it a priority. You’re saying, ‘We enjoy you. You’re important. You’re loved.”
-Shannon Bennett, assistant professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medicine
5. Enjoy an uninterrupted Children's Hour
Children’s Hour is the best environment to end this really good day together. I wrote an earlier post in the Parent Journal entitled The Children’s Hour – a Nighttime Routine which goes into more depth about this healthy, evening ritual to establish in the home.
To enjoy a really good day with your preschooler, end it by setting aside an hour or so free from interruptions and distractions. It is the cherry on the top of this really good day. Work with your child to tidy up, bathe, get dressed for bed and brush teeth. Then, cozy up together for a bedtime story. Savor this precious time. Finally, turn off the light, express your love for them offering the opportunity for your child to share any triumphs, thoughts or worries with you to end the day peacefully. Knowing they are forgiven, acknowledged, celebrated, provides a child with the safe and secure feeling in which to comfortably drift off to sleep.
These 5 ways to enjoy a really good day with your preschooler are chosen carefully as I reflect back on the childhood years with my little ones. Experiences like these are highlights and memories I treasure from our early time together. Busy schedules, high expectations, a perfectly kept house don’t arise as important when I think back. It was the little things, the innocence of their personalities, their giggles and silliness, story times, swimming together and fun around the table. Memories that continue to fill my heart with joy.
I invite you to choose a day to incorporate these ideas with your preschooler and see what happens. Be open to what works, welcoming it as a characteristic of your parenting style. You will not only capture the wonder and magic of these precious, golden days together, you will be building a connection with your now preschooler to enhance your relationship through the coming years.
Written by Janet Nicole Meyer for Golden Days at Home
Summer isn’t summer without sipping a delicious Orange Julius on a hot July afternoon. The popular dad across the street of my childhood home, father to nine children, would treat the neighborhood kids to an Orange Julius event each and every summer. Share this iconic Orange Julius recipe with your child on a hot summer’s day. I can taste the cold, frothy, orange goodness right now!
