20+ Easy Ways To Spend One On One Time With Your Kids

One of my goals this year has been to spend more one on one time with each of my kids.  This has proved to be more challenging that I thought it would be.  My oldest just finished kindergarten, my middle on is in preschool and the baby is just barely four months old, so we spend a lot of time together.  But what I've come to realize as I've made an effort to plan one on one time with them is that they don't care if it's 10 minutes or 2 hours.  They just want to have my undivided attention while we do something together.  Being a busy mom of three usually means that we're leaning more towards the 10 minutes rather than the 2 hours side of things, so I've had to become a little creative to work that time in.

This post is sponsored by JORD.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.

My kids are really good kids.  If you've met them, you know I'm not just saying this.  They really are great and for the most part, they get along and listen fairly well.  And sure, they still argue with each other and have to be asked 937 times to get their shoes on before we leave anywhere.  But I will tell you this: I've noticed a huge different in my kids behavior when my husband and I are consistently spending one on one time with our kids.  We try to be deliberate about it and let the kids know that this time is for them specifically.  If I'm with my son or daughter and the baby is fussy, my husband steps in to take care of her so I'm not distracted.  If my husband is with one of our kids and the other wants to ask him a question or show him something, I remind them that the other child is having one on one time with him and they will get their chance.

One specific tip I've found helps me be more present in the moment with my child during our one on one time and not be distracted by the million other things I have going on is to put my phone in another room.  How often do we pull our phones out just to check the time and end up getting sucked into Facebook or Instagram and forget why we even wanted to look at our phone in the first place?  By putting my phone in another room, I'm removing the temptation to even touch it.  At the same time, I need to be able to keep track of time, so that's one of the main reasons why I like wearing a watch.  As an added bonus, when I'm in the habit of checking my watch for the time, I'm spending less time on my phone getting sidetracked. #winning

If you're not sure where to start, just remember the idea of quality over quantity is what you're going for.  Often it's the regular day to day tasks that provide the best opportunities for us to spend time with our kids.  I've put together a list of some of the ways I sneak in one on one time with my kids to help get the ideas flowing for you on how you can incorporate this into your own life.

• Go on a walk
• Build a block tower
• Color a picture
• Make muffins or cookies from a mix
• Paint fingernails and/or toenails
• Watch a cake or cookie decorating video
• Read a book together
• Build a puzzle
• Take them on a quick errand with you
• Grab a small treat from the store
• Blow bubbles
• Jump on the trampoline
• Push them on the swings
• Play hopscotch
• Do sidewalk chalk
• Throw water balloons at a target/side of the house/fence
• Make something out of play dough
• Sit on the porch and eat a piece of candy or chocolate
• Tell them a story about when they were little
• Tell them a story about when you were little
• Learn about something new together (animal, how it's made, history, etc)
• Tell each other jokes

If you think my tip about having a watch to wear might be helpful to you as you aim to spend more one on one time with your kids, I definitely recommend checking out the watches they carry at JORD.  They have beautiful mens wood watches and womens watches.  Something I really like about their watches is that each one is unique in it's own way because the bands are made out of wood so you can see the colors and grain, plus you can choose to also get custom engravings which make great personalized gifts.  JORD is offering my readers $25 off and free sizing with the code: sunshineandmunchkins at checkout!

Additionally, they are doing a giveaway for $100 off a wood watch.  The giveaway ends on 7/22/18.  (The winner will be picked and notified through their system.)  Be sure to click here and enter!

I'd love to hear the different ways you spend one on one time with your kids!
Wooden Wristwatch