How To Connect With Your Kids 9 Ideas for Working Homeschool Moms

As a parent, you know spending time with your kids is vital in building strong, lasting relationships. As a working mom, this can be tough. Let’s talk about how to connect with your kids.

Life is busy when you are a mom trying to juggle a career, homeschooling your kids, and family responsibilities.

On top of that, we know our kids need one on one time with us. How do we find the time in our busy schedules for our kids?

Of all the things you can buy, time is not one of them. But what you can do is learn how to manage your time as a busy mom.

When you start using time management tips in your day-to-day life, you’ll start to free up the time you need to connect with your kids.

In this article, I’ll share with you how to connect with your kids daily in nine simple ways.

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How Much Time Do Your Kids Need?

When it comes to learning how to connect with your kids, you need to figure out how much time your kids need from you.

Do they need hours and hours, or would a few minutes each day help?

The answer really depends on each child and their personality. Some children need 2-4 hours a day with their parents, and some do not.

As a mom of two children, I can tell you both of my children have different needs, and those needs change each day.

The goal is to learn how to connect with your kids in order to build a loving relationship with them.

Quality Time Vs. Quantity Time

This brings us to the great debate of quality time vs. quantity time.

What does “quality time” look like for your children? Is it time spent reading together, playing games, and cooking? Or is it time in the car driving to extracurricular activities and debating the newest TV show?

Again, it depends on your child. My oldest needs me to sit on the end of his bed and listen as he chats about whatever is on his mind. My youngest likes to do activities together, such as playing a game or doing a puzzle.

mom reading to her child in a rocking chair.

Ask yourself:

What do my kids like to do?
When do they need my attention most?
What are their interests?

Personally, I think we need “quality quantity time.” This means we need to make the time we do have count by focusing on our kids and cutting out distractions.

And while day trips and vacations are great ways to make memories, the little everyday things we do with our kids help us build a stronger relationship with them.

The Value of Connecting With Your Kids Daily

When you connect with your kids daily, you stay in tune with what is going on in their lives and learn more about them personally. You get to know their fears, dreams, concerns, cares, etc.

This results in:

building stronger relationships
reducing stress and worry
making our family life happier

All of these things build stronger families.

How To Connect With Your Kids Daily

When I first returned to working outside the home, my job took up much of my time. I had to drive my husband to work, drive the kids to childcare, and drive to work. And repeat the whole process after work.

Work sucked up a lot of my time, and I felt intense mom guilt at the time I lost my kids.

With a quick look at your busy schedule, you may wonder how you will find the time you need to connect with your kids.

Let me share with you two adjustments that really helped me and may help you.

1. Identify your time wasters:

As a busy mom, identifying your time wasters helps you to use your time wisely, and being really intentional about how you spend your time is vital.

When identifying your time wasters, you must be brutally honest about your habits and routines.

For example, although Facebook is part of my business as my online community, it can also be a time-waster because I can easily get distracted.

I can file “checking Facebook” under a business task, but if I don’t stay focused on what I need to do while in there and instead get sucked into my feed, I end up 45 minutes later getting nothing done.

List about how to connect with your kids picture of a mom playing with her kids

Therefore, being intentional with my time is important for me. I need to write to-do lists that are reachable and have time limits.

One way that helps me control this time waster is to use a timer and a paper list. Once the timer goes off, I give myself 2 minutes to finish typing a sentence, reading a paragraph, etc. Then I move on.

Wondering how to connect with your kids? Ask yourself:

What are your time wasters?
How can you plan to control them?

If you want to dive deep into figuring out what your time wasters are, be sure to check out my tips on stopping wasting time and being more productive here.

2. Make time by adjusting your personal schedule.

Everyone’s schedule is different, but with a little planning, you can adjust to free up time to connect with your kids.

Perhaps you can get up early.

If I wake up before the children are up, I can use this time to connect with my husband before he heads out the door and plan my day.

I take this time to look over my day’s schedule and seek a “planned” time to connect with the kids.

Dig out your homeschool planner and see where you can find that one-on-one time for your kids. Pencil it in! Set a reminder. Do what you need in order to make that time happen.

9 Ways To Connect With Your Kids

Connecting with your kids doesn’t need to be a drawn-out elaborate time-sucking plan. Although those are fun, our kids really need a few minutes of focused attention where you really listen each day.

Are you wondering how to connect with your kids? Here are 9 ideas that are perfect for working homeschool moms.

1. Read to your child.

When my children were little, I read every single night to my kids.

This time is special and creates the perfect environment for them to unload all their problems. Even if it IS a tactic to stay up later, I found my kids were more comfortable under the soft light to share the good and bad parts of their day.

If you don’t like to read aloud with your kids, another option is to use audiobooks like Around The World Stories to listen to together.

Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Reading with my kids and listening to stories together is a super special memory with my kids.

2. Play a game.

No matter how old your child is, you can find a fun game to play.

Hide and go seek, go fish, educational board games, or an online video game are all great ways to connect with your kids.

My daughter and I play several times a week in the evenings. I list our favorite games on my Amazon Bookshelf if you want some ideas.

3. Cook or bake.

Cooking or baking with kids is a great side-by-side activity. Because you are both focused on a task, it can make it easier for your child to share.

This is great for kids of all ages; just be sure to choose an age-appropriate task. Plus, they are learning valuable life skills.

If you need a cookbook for kids, check out my kid-friendly recipes.

4. Work together.

Involve the kids in any household tasks you are doing, such as bringing in wood, sorting laundry, or washing the car.

Again, this one-on-one time while focused on a task is a great opportunity for sharing and learning life skills.

When kids learn to do chores, they also end up helping you around the house and removing some stress.

5. Get outside.

Going for a short walk, playing in the playground, or pitching a few balls is a great way to release stress and connect with your kids.

You can also use nature studies in your homeschool, which is a great way how to connect with your kids and check some homeschool boxes.

Bonus: If they burn off some energy and get fresh air, they might sleep better too!

6. Take an active interest in their interests.

Be genuinely interested. Kids can smell fake a mile away.

Ask questions and listen to their long-winded response. Invite them to share.

If they are reluctant to share, ask open-ended questions. Those are questions that need more than a YES or NO for an answer.

This gives you common ground, something to talk about, or a healthy competition to kick their butts in.

7. Plan a date.

Take a good look at your planner and see if you can schedule a monthly or, better yet, weekly date with your child.

Planning date get organized for the week

Watch a movie together. Do a puzzle. Pick something you are both interested in.

My daughter and I do weekly planner dates. We dig out all our planner stuff each Sunday evening and plan out our week. This is a great way to know what is going on each week and catch up.

8. Be journal buddies.

This is a great idea for kids who prefer to write than talk. Or for providing great prompts to discuss.

We use Big Life Journal and Big Life Journal For Teens. Once a week, we set a date, pull out food and the journal. Don’t be afraid to mix it up and have fun!

9. Learn with your child.

One of the things I missed the most about switching to mostly online learning was learning with my kids. To offset this, I pick one subject to learn with each child.

My daughter and I were doing ASL last year. This year we are doing Poetry Tea Time, and we watch movies together.

My son and I work together on his Writing With Skill lessons.

We also do STEAM/STEM boxes with all 3 of us.

These are just a few ways to connect with your kids in as little as 30 minutes.

Connect With Your Kids When You’re A Working Mom

Our children need one on one time with us daily, even though we are busy.

We can buy out that time by controlling our time wasters, setting reasonably reachable goals, and being intentional with our time.

When we connect with our children on a daily basis, we learn so much more about who they are, what they are doing, and what they like or don’t like. It allows us to connect with them and build stronger relationships that will last a lifetime.