Most parents with school aged children find themselves rushing around from home to school, to the soccer field or dance class (or both) and back home again. In between the social shuffle there’s making lunches, running errands, doing homework, eating dinner, bath time, and usually more homework. Life’s

When this school year began I was disappointed when I found out that I had to drop off my oldest daughter at school by 8am, come back home for only a short time and have to leave again to get my second child to her school by 9am. My thought was that the in-between time would be a “waste”. What I came to realize was that this perceived wasted time became one of the best times of the day for my youngest daughter and myself. We have used that little window we’ve been given as “our time” and we have gotten so much out of using it to it’s full potential. We sit together and finish what’s left of breakfast, we get her dressed for her day and we have almost a whole half an hour to ourselves to do whatever we want together (the key word being together). It may not seem like a lot of time but it’s enough to make it special. We have built a treasured ritual into our morning; a time to connect, play, pay attention to one another, and just enjoy the morning. It made me realize that no matter how busy I feel, how many things I have to get done in a day, no time has to be wasted.

 Here are a few ideas for ways to use the little windows of time throughout your day to their full family potential:

 Think Books- Keep a few books on hand (in the car or in your purse is always handy) to read with your child when you only have a 5 or 10 minute wait (at the doctors office, at the post office, or even at home). Dedicating that time to your child will make you both feel good.

 Play Favorites- The “favorite” game is always fun when there’s time to kill. Try beginning the sentence, “My favorite thing for dinner is…” and let your children each have a turn finishing your sentence. You can learn lots of great things about your kids this way too. As they get older you can structure sentences that might better fit their age or stage in life like, “My favorite part of my day at school is…” or even “My least favorite chore at home is…” These are questions your kids might never answer unless you ask them in a game format. There are all sorts of other conversation games to play with your kids that are equally as fun. And don’t forget to answer the questions yourself. Your kids will love to hear your answers too! Even driving in traffic will pass more quickly (and be more fun) when you and your children are engaged in a game.

 The Big Set Up- If there’s only a little time to play but my kids want to play something that takes quite a bit longer, instead of setting ourselves up to be interrupted, we set ourselves up to play later. I call the pre-playtime “set-up time” when we get the toy or game all ready for when we get back from doing whatever it is we have to do. It works great with my preschooler! When you’re 3, part of the game to set it up so it’s fun for her to get the toys all situated and then when it’s time to leave I say, “Alright, we’ll leave this right here, all ready for when we get back!”. This way she’s excited to leave because she’s looking forward to our return. Just be sure to keep your word and don’t clean it up before you get a chance to play whatever it is you promised.

 Make a List-Have your child help you write a list of things you can do in small periods of time. It helps them think about time management and how you don’t need lots of time to do something worthwhile. Tossing a ball back and forth is one idea. Offer the idea and say something like, “OK, we have 10 minutes. How many times do you think we can toss the ball back and forth in that amount of time” and make the time limit a positive, not a negative. When you’ve got a few minutes on your hand, grab you list and pick something to do.

 The next time you’ve got time to spare, make the minutes count by spending them with your children!