Let’s talk Shonda Rhimes for a minute… or 10.
Shonda Rhimes… the powerhouse television producer… had a chapter in her book “Year of Yes” where she describes a night at her home. As she is headed out the door to attend an awards ceremony, her youngest daughter stops her and asks “wanna play?” Now, Shonda is fully decked out in designer gear and has a limo outside her door, so playing with her daughter was not what she was planning on doing at that moment.
But she did… because she saw that’s what her daughter needed right then. So she paused, played, and sang “Let it Go” a few times. And then her daughter expressed that she was all good, she had her mom time, so Shonda dusted herself off and continued on to her night.
All of this took about 10 minutes. But it was a powerful 10 minutes, for both mom and daughter.
Find your 10 – 15 minutes. We all have them at some point in our day. Turn off the phone – maybe even stick it in another room so it is truly not a distraction – and just hang out with your kid(s). Make it a part of your regular routine – consciously put away your phone at bath time, for example – or be spontaneous and find your moments (like Shonda did). You don’t need an agenda, or a plan… the only thing you need to do is be fully there for them.
So you can thank Shonda Rhimes for Bridgerton, Grey’s Anatomy… and now, some solid parenting advice!