All of us find it challenging sometimes to meet our obligations AND be an awesome parent. I hope this blog inspires you to be present and engaged with your kids today in a way that fills your heart and soul.

There is a secret to being an awesome parent! It also comes with a bonus feature of being the secret to life. It takes deliberate effort, but it’s fun and easy and requires you to fill your heart like you did as a child.

FLOOD YOUR BRAIN WITH HAPPINESS

AND

SHARE IT!!

Immediately upon reading this, did you…

A. Nod knowingly with a gentle, celebratory smile?
OR
B. Roll your eyes back with an exhale of defeat?

Your reaction determines which camp cabin you’ll create today, A) Camp Champion or B) Camp Naysayer?

Did you go to summer camp when you were little? If not, I bet you wanted to. Summer camp is every child’s dream; camp counselors with silly names like Skeeter, dirty sneakers, chili burgers, adventurous hikes, giggling skits, flashlight duels, and scary midnight sounds. Summer camp is a regular, magic-child-day multiplied by extra special. As a parent, you design and model which camp cabin your kids dwell in everyday. It’s all about how you “skeeter” it. Today, make it extra special.

As a child psychologist, I’ve learned how to capture, delight, and light up my little patients the minute they walk in the waiting room. My husband calls it my “sunshine” and often comments on the evident power of providing a ray of light to my patients. Once I capture their little hearts by showing them how they throw a sparkle into my day, they become deeply engaged in the alliance and work hard to meet their goals. After a session, Camp Champion parents feel the momentum, take the baton, and lead their children to victory. The sunshine is easy to elicit and it invigorates me. Honestly, I’m blessed to have my heart flooded with it many times a day. Psychologists call this being mindful and engaged.

Children thrive in Camp Champion, where wonder, delight, and magic blossom spontaneously. Beds get made by leprechauns, toothbrushes create swirls of sparkling fairy dust, pop songs get belted out with grand flourish, zigzag paths spring between rooms, and a lurching zombie cooks breakfast and pack lunches while dramatically dragging his broken foot behind him.

During magic moments, creative conversation blossoms and allows you to become fully aware of your children and what is important to them. The material from your mutual delight will seed private jokes and silly shticks that will provide delightful hits of entertainment to sprinkle throughout a day, everyday.

With so much to do and distractions pulling at your attention, it is easy for the home/cabin to become Camp Naysayer. If you get sucked into the vortex of business, your kids will find things to do on their own, complain of being bored when really they’re lonely, and they’ll seek solace with too much screen time. Some independent play and screen time is awesome, but every day, all day is too much. And I suspect that if you’re the leader of the Naysayer cabin, you too are lost behind your screen and also feeling busy, but bored…and lonely.

As a Mom, I’m aware that it’s impossible to spend all day in magical playtime. At this very moment while I’m writing this blog, The Babies (what we call the little ones even though they are now 12 and 10 years old) are orbiting me like long-legged chattering planets. My daughter is sitting on the stool next to me happily prattling about the visit I just promised her to the lamb barn this afternoon where we will volunteer time shoveling hay and feeding bottles to tiny lambs. Meanwhile, my 10 year-old son, not quite as infatuated with shoveling, is negotiating a pre-adventure visit to the shaved ice spot complete with rainbow flavors. My thoughts are engaged in no fewer than four different places. But I’m taking my own advice. When they talk I stop my activity, look them straight in the eye, and share a smile. Work can wait for this precious moment. With my oldest away at college now, I’m aware these moments are fleeting. My soul holds on to our magic moment memories like a direct feed to my life source.

Today be Camp Champion and skeeter your daily activities. When the kids aren’t around, block off some time to do your work and accomplish it without distraction. THEN, block off playtime with your kids. When you first lay eyes on them, soak them in with gratefulness and let them see your enthusiasm for the magic they bring into the room. Throw your sunshine, get amped, smile big, and challenge them to an adventure for champions!! They will buzz with excitement.

If you have a friend who is excellent at Camp Champion or who has earned a precious day with his/her babies, pass on GetKidsInternetSafe.com. I’d also love to hear about your magic moments in the comments!

Love makes us happy and time brings us love. Honor it. Cheers to a day of engagement with your kids rather than your technology.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo credit:

Love by Shena Pamela, CC by-NC-by-SA 2.0