10 Ways To Show Your Kids You Care Day 9: Pay Attention

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I missed the last two days of our 10 Easy Ways to Show You Care series while were on vacation, so I'll be catching up this week! While we were gone, I was reminded (again) that more than any more “stuff” my kids long for my attention. Now folks, I'm preaching to myself on this one because I struggle with it way too much, but maybe I'm not the only one.

The biggest place I find myself failing to pay attention is when we're traveling in the car. So often, I hand them an iPad (or my phone, or whatever) and zone out in mommy mode while listening to the radio. But while we were traveling last week (especially when I had a ten hour drive in the car by myself with the three of them!) I actually stopped and talked. I turned off the radio, didn't answer my phone, the noise, or anything else, and instead we played games, talked (a lot!) and I stayed focused on them.  Here were a few classic road games that work even when you're just running errands around time:

• A singing competition (this is my kids favorite)
• Sing songs and replace a word (for example, sing the song “Oh Christmas Tree” and change the word Christmas to chocolate – I was amazed at how much fun that one was!)
• I Spy
• Hogwash (everyone except the driver closes their eyes and the driver describes what they're doing – if the rider think the driver is lying they call “hogwash”)
• Home or away (the kids watch for cars from other states and try to figure out whether they’re on their way home or away)