Mommy Mornings

My kids have been going through a couple of rough phases.

Now, they're good kids. Really good. And I think sometimes we don't acknowledge that as much as we should. Maybe sometimes we expect too much of them.
But they're smart. And we need them to know that we expect them to be the very best they can be.

Anyway,
Kent and I have been working hard to help them get through these issues lately.  We spend most of our time together in the evenings just talking and researching and praying.

The idea came to me last week,
that my children might benefit from more attention. I'd already cut out all phone time/social media/internet browsing for me during the day, but maybe there could still be more I could give them.
As I was praying about it,
I had a thought that I should start doing something.

Enter, Mommy Mornings.
Nearly each morning now, we wake up, have breakfast, get dressed,
and then I spend fifteen minutes completely alone with each child.
We can do anything they want. They take the lead, and I am theirs, completely, for fifteen minutes.
It has become my favorite 45 minutes of the day.

Nicholas often chooses to just cuddle together on the couch and talk. We ask each other all sorts of questions. Then we'll jump up and play tag in the living room or hide-and-seek. 
Ellie loves for me to play princess castle with her. We also color together, read, or go outside and paint rocks.
Christian mostly just jabbers away while I follow him around the house. We wrestle and tickle and give big slobbery squeezie kisses.

It's only 15 minutes, but it sets the tone for the day and lets them each know, on their own, that mommy loves them and cares about them enough to spend time just with them.
And that's turing out to be a pretty great thing.