The easy habit that will help you spend quality time with your kids every single day
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My son stood in front of me in the kitchen, holding a drawing in his little hands.
“Look, Mom! Do you like it?” he asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
“Of course I do! I love the colors you used,” I said with a smile.
“Do you want to come and draw with me?”
“I’d love to,” I told him. “But I need to finish something first.”
“Okay, I’ll wait,” he said, as he turned and went back to his small table in the living room.
I watched him from the kitchen. He smiled at me and started a new drawing.
My eyes drifted back to the to-do list in front of me. It was full of things that felt so important in that moment — laundry, dishes, tidying up. I told myself I’d get through it quickly and then spend time with him.
An hour passed in the blink of an eye.
When I finally finished folding the last pile of laundry, my husband came home from work. My son squealed with excitement and ran to him, arms outstretched.
“Let’s go to the swimming pool!” he shouted.
A few minutes later, the door closed behind them, and I was left standing in the kitchen with my fully-checked to-do list. But instead of feeling accomplished, I felt empty.
It all started with a drawing
I walked into the living room and saw a drawing on the table.
I picked it up, and my heart sank.
It was a simple drawing of our house. It showed my son playing with a car on the floor. And it showed me in the kitchen, cleaning.
And then it really hit me.
That’s how he saw our day: separate, disconnected, distant. Without saying a word, he had told me how he felt.
I stood there holding that drawing, and something inside me shifted.
I had spent the day ticking off tasks, but I had missed what really mattered.
And I felt so bad about it!
I knew that I needed a change.
I needed to be more intentional about spending quality time with my son and building that strong, loving relationship I always wanted to have with him.
The easy habit that will help you spend quality time with kids every single day
In the days after that evening, I kept thinking about ways to spend more quality time with my son.
So I started a habit that’s changed everything: setting aside 30 minutes every single day for uninterrupted, focused time together.
Sometimes we spend hours playing, exploring, or going on adventures. But on the busy days, those 30 minutes are so precious!
⭐ An update (eight years later): Many years later, I’m still holding onto this habit. Now a mom of two boys, I can say without a doubt it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
If you want to try this habit with your kids, check the tips below to help you get started.
How to implement this habit and spend more quality time with kids
If you’ve ever felt like the busyness of life is keeping you from connecting with your kids, this simple habit can help. Here’s how to start:
1. Set aside 20–30 minutes daily.
Treat this time like an important appointment — because it is.
2. Choose a consistent time.
Pick a time that works with your routine. Consistency makes it easier to stick with the habit.
You can either set a specific hour when you know that you and your kids will be home. Or you can set a time based on another activity that you have on your daily schedule (e.g., after dinner).
3. Turn off distractions.
Put your phone away. Turn off the TV. For those 30 minutes, let your kids have your full attention.
4. Keep it simple.
It doesn’t have to be anything complicated. You don’t need any “fancy” activities to connect with your kids. On the contrary, many times the simplest activities can bring the most fun.
⭐ If you need some inspiration to get started with this habit, check out the activity ideas inside the Playful Mom Club. The monthly guides include activities that you can quickly set up for your little ones to connect and have fun together!
5. Get your kids involved.
Let them know about your plan. Ask them to remind you if you forget. Their excitement will keep you motivated.
Also, to make sure that you don’t forget about the daily 30 minutes of quality time, set an alarm on your phone at the same hour every day.
It all comes back to connection
A few weeks after starting this habit, my son showed me another drawing.
This time, it was a picture of the two of us playing together on the living room floor, surrounded by colorful hearts.
“I love when we play like this, Mom,” he said, beaming. “It’s my favorite moment!”
Those words melted my heart.
Sometimes, our kids show us exactly what they need in the simplest ways — if we just take the time to notice.
And when we do, the moments we share become the memories they carry with them forever.
Thank you so much for this! I use to do this everyday with my daughter and somehow life got so busy, lately when I’ve been “playing” with her I’ve been so distracted. She feels that. She’s been acting up lately and I can almost guarantee it’s her crying out for attention.
This is going to be a priority to me. I love her so much, and thank you for this. Quality time. ❤️
Thank you so much for your post, it described exactly what I do many evenings after school pick up (my son is 5), and I seem to find myself doing the chores over playing with him. Then Daddy swoops in after work and has lots of fun, which is lovely to see of course, but leaves me feeling regret that I’m prepping dinner once again over joining in. Since reading this, I plan to set aside 30mins first straight from pick up, grab a drink and snack for us and properly play before another chore! Time is so precious especially while they actually WANT to be with us parents!
Thanks again for the suggestions and resources to inspire! Xx