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Quality Time with Your Teen
By Gwen Morrison
Delores Madison, a single mom from Atlanta, Ga., usually gets home an hour and a half after her kids. "When I get home, we prepare dinner together and they sit around and tell me about their day," she says. "We always eat dinner together not always at the table but always together. Some day, when I am not being an old lady, I might watch MTV with them or even listen to rap music."
Obviously, we all have certain obligations that we feel the need to fulfill every day. The problem often stems from prioritizing these necessary duties. In order to find more time to spend together with your teenager, it may be necessary to review the way you spend your time.
Making the relationship with your teenager your top priority may take some changes. In the long run, the decision to alter your daily routine will become more natural. Small changes in how you use your time can have a huge impact on how available you are to your children.
"We need to begin, right now, at this very moment to see each second as a gift, as an opportunity to savor where we all are now whether we do this by playing, chatting or simply being together with our children," says Elizabeth Pantley, author of Perfect Parenting, KidCooperation, and Hidden Messages.
Without quantity of time there cannot be quality time. There has to be a give and take in order to find time to spend together as a family. Ultimately teenagers won't show their appreciation as much now as we would like, but the memories of time spent together will resonate within them for years to come.
