How Do You...Spend Quality Time With Each Child?

 
How do you make time for individual children when you have a large family?  

In our family, we started something quite by accident.  One night, we let Gavin stay up late to watch a movie with Brian after the other kids went to bed.  You would think we'd given him a million dollars.  It was all he could talk about the next day.   All the other kids started asking when they'd be allowed to stay up, too...so we instituted the "Special Night."  It doesn't have to happen often (because then it wouldn't be special), but every so often, we announce to one child that tonight is their night to stay up.  They've done things like choose a  big stack of story books to read with Mama, played a card game, or had a Wii boxing match with Daddy.  Even if the "Special Night" only lasts for an hour (or less), it is enough to make the child feel privileged. 

Sometimes quality time occurs naturally as we go about our day.  Owen likes to cook with me.  Maddie enjoys when she and Brian go out at night to feed the dog.  If either Brian or I need to run to the store, we usually invite someone along.  Alaine likes to read books first thing in the morning before breakfast and she often convinces her daddy to read her a book before he leaves for work.  We don't always have to set aside large chunks of special time in order to have meaningful time with out kids. 

How do you spend time with each of your children?  Let us know in the comments.

If you have a question for a future "How Do You...?" post, share that in the comments, too, or send me an e-mail!