I think the hardest thing is to be a weekend parent in your own home. I work an hour and a half away from home, it could really take a lot out of a person. I spend most weekends with my sons or at least try to. They have so much energy I wish they could pass it on. By the weekend I'm drained from school and work, but it's nothing more than a tennis game of Wii with the boys. Depending on the time I get home what I have found to be pretty rewarding is reading a book with them before they go to bed during the week. Most of the time I let my older sons read to me. I personally like the Children's Books by Joy Berry the Help Me Be Good Books. We have a whole collection like Being Selfish, Lying and Tattling to name a few. These books have been around for a while because they were once mines when I was younger.
We also have dream meetings, which help my sons when they don't get to see me during the week. I usually get home 2 hours before their bedtime. So after dinner, a bath, and a story we discuss or dream meeting. After we pray, we think of a place to dream about and meet there. I started this after their father died because he lives on in their dreams. So we usually go to the park, zoo, Legoland, Chuck E. Cheese or any other fun place they could think of. After we come to agreement on our meeting spot they go to bed smiling and excited about going to sleep. It's really a good way to get them to go to bed without playing. Which gives me the rest of the night to finish my homework. When they wake up in the morning while I'm rushing them to school they tell me about their dream and what we did in the dream. Now you definitely have to have an imagination to hold this conversation because I'm usually so tired by the time I lay down I don't know if I dream or not. But for the sake of having some valuable time with my boys I listen and participate with their dream stories.
So far that's all I have as a resolution of spending more valuable time with them other than the weekends. Does anyone have any suggestions or things they do to get more time with their children.
