These days, I am focusing on developing a conscious connection with my daughter. In this busy holiday season, it can be easy to work, work, work on everything and get nothing accomplished, it seems. It can also be easy to forgo a lot of the holiday cheer and run around in ever-tightening circles of busy, forgetting to connect with real life humans in our efforts to buy presents, bake cookies, and mail Christmas cards. I have a strong suspicion that this is not what this season is supposed to be about.
My daughter’s grumpiness level seems to fluctuate in a manner that is directly related to how connected she feels to her immediate family. Of course, it also fluctuates depending on the amount and quality of sleep she’s had, how hungry she feels, and whether we are speeding through the day or taking it easy.
In this season of busy, I’m going to focus on creating some time to connect with her. This does not need to be through special events and through spending a lot of money. Thank goodness, since time and money are generally in short supply this time of year. No, I’m talking about getting down and playing, doing a silly dance, baking cookies and letting ourselves eat some of the dough. I’m talking about snuggles in bed for a little longer than usual, and reading some cozy Christmas stories.
As my daughter gets older and school approaches, I realize that we’re both craving this connection more and more. It’s easy to assume that since preschoolers can walk and talk and even argue a point rather effectively, that they are independent and self-contained little human beings. But no one is self-contained, and we all crave connection. In this busy time, I’m going to work on cultivating it.