“If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money.”
-Abigail Van Buren
I absolutely love this quote so much. I just came across it recently and I thought “this is exactly how I want to live my life as a mother of 4 children”. Spending time with them is so much more important than the money I spend on them.
Sometimes I wish I was a minimalist, but to be honest, I don’t really know exactly what one is. I just imagine less stuff! When I say that out loud it puts a smile on my face. I like “LESS STUFF”.
So when it comes to making my kids happy, I know stuff is not the answer, rather time spent with the person you love is what brings joy to your child’s heart the most.
TRAVELING WITH KIDS = GREAT QUALITY TIME
I just came back from a trip away with my husband, my 4 girls and another family who are close friends of ours. We had the most amazing 4 day weekend away. The amount of quality time we spent with our kids away from any distractions was so valuable. The kids absolutely loved going away together as a family.
We didn’t spend the entire trip shopping and buying the kids wasteful toys but instead we enjoyed nature walks together, skipping rocks, sightseeing together and more.
Every day I asked the kids “What was your favorite part of the day?” In the end, the kids’ favorite parts of the trip were all the fun things they did outside and not once did they mention their favorite thing was playing with their toys inside.
Yeah, toys are fun and can be extremely beneficial for a child’s development. But really when it comes to parenting, the amount of time spent with your child is much more impactful and memorable than the amount of money that was spent on them for their birthday, Christmas or on any day for that matter.
CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
I know Christmas is coming up and a lot of you are starting to think about the amount of money you have in the bank saved up for Christmas gifts for your children. Don’t fret! Money is not going to make your child happy.
Be creative and think about gifts that involve more quality time together between you and your children. In the end, your child will surely appreciate the one-on-one time you spend together much more compared to an electronic toy that they have for only one year which becomes outdated and eventually ends up in the trash.
Your child will grow up to appreciate you much more for your closeness and your effort to be with him or her and will forget about the material things. I encourage you to focus on quality time and not dollar bills.
I would love to hear about any ideas that you have involving cost-effective gifts that are centered around spending quality time with your children. Leave a response in the comment section below. As usual, questions are always welcomed!
Keep Smiling,
Dr. Jena Bradley, DPT
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Love this post! What a true quote. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the world that this is a good one to step back and remember.
Our church talked about ‘relational gift giving’ a few Christmas ago. That is giving quality time or an experience instead of plastic stuff. That’s why we take our family in a beach trip instead of buying them gifts for Christmas and it’s a fun tradition we gave grown to look forward to.
That’s great to hear your church talked about relational gift giving. And the beach trip idea for a Christmas gift is definitely a hit!!! So many wonderful memories!