by Kellye Horn

Created on: March 07, 2009

The best gift you can bestow on your children is time. Time to teach them, to learn from them, to play with them. Take them to the library, show them books you read as a child. Borrow books on how to make Christmas crafts. Everybody loved Roald Dahl as a child. Pull them onto your lap and snuggle while watching a movie, or teach them how to make papier mache piggy banks. Take them bowling, teach them how to roll a spare! Or take them for a walk and show them different varieties of flowers, or birds, or even the types of clouds. Keep a journal of funny hats you see when you're driving, or relearn how to play I Spy, maybe with a 21st century twist. Fingerpainting, clay modelling, musical instruments, or even naming plastic dinosaurs and making up stories. Remember Legos? Build a house, or a spaceship, or a funny little man with mismatched ears. Try to remember the very best memories you have of your parents. What are the things that still make you smile today? Maybe family game night, or going to the park on Sundays. Reading a book every night before bed, or better yet! Making up stories with special characters that your children help you create.

Time spent with your child will be the thing most cherished as he or she grows up. They might remember that flashy new toy car wistfully at some Christmas in the future, but the thing they will hold most dear is the memory of activites done and games played. Laughter, love, and learning self esteem are by far more important than any physical gift you might purchase your child.

Children grow best in a home filled with love. Every family has time constraints due to job, school, activities, and other things. If given a chance, any family could find somehing they spend time on that is worth giving up to spend time together as a family.Do you spend a lot of time in front of the computer? Or television, or any electronic time sucker? Spend that time growing with your child. Take the time to listen to what she has to say. It may be the most honest and insightful thing you've heard all week!

Time is a limited commodity. Every day goes a little faster than the last, and time soon kicks us and makes us look at our teenagers, wondering what happened to the five year old you just taught to tie his shoes. Make every minute worthwhile; give your family fond memories that they will continue to cherish and pass on to thier own children. Give them the gift of time.

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