Poll: How much one on one time do you spend with your kids?

[rosebuds]

I have two dd's, they are 21.5 months apart, ages 3 and 18 months.

I realized I had to start making more of an effort to spend one on one time with my oldest when she started crying everytime her sister woke from a nap. She would get near hysterical begging me to put her sister back to sleep.

I find it so very difficult however to get the time alone with each of them as they are still quite young and VERY attached to mom.

I have made a concerted effort to not do the housework, or visit bb's, or read the mail while the younger one naps and this has made a HUGE difference in how the 3 y/o has been acting. Even though it is just about 1 hr. a day we still call it Mommy and Delaney's special time.

Unfortuanately my younger dd only gets one on one time about once a week or even less.

So how often do you spend with each of your children on a 1/1?
What activities do you do, is it like a date? Do you play the same thing each time?

[Moonqueen]

we lead the same life:

[lucina3]

Every day. Not always the same amount of time with each girl each day but every day, even for a few minutes, I have time with each of them. It just depends on whose needs are greater at the time.

[Mallory]

I rarely have one on one time with them, but I don't think it is so important. They are 19 months apart-almost 4 and 2.

Usually if I (or dh) do, it is running errands with the older or staying home with the younger. Occasionally one of us will take the older out to dinner or to play at Boarders on the train table, things that aren't so fun with a two year old.

They usually are crying for which ever boy is missing not which ever parent- when is Miles going to be awake, where did Lincoln go, ect.

One thing that we have done at times is purposefully get their schedules different so that they had less time together. Ds#1 is so nice at 10 or 11 at night, he will stay up late and just play (especially when #2 was smaller and would just mess up all his stuff up, couldn't really play with him). And so we would make it so that one was up 3 or 4 hours longer at night and the other in the morning, and thier naps were different, just so they had more time away from each other.

One thing that I do try to do everyday is really pay attention to them when they talk to me. Stop folding clothes, reading, doing homework and look in thier eyes and listen, even telling the other that I am talking to his brother, please wait until we are done. In this way I feel that I am making myself available for them totally in short bits all day. It seems to work for us.

If you really think that your youngest needs more one on one time then find a way to get it in, if you just are trying to get the hours you spend with each of them even, don't. You don't have to give your children equal things, you have to give them what they need. No matter what it is (pancakes, money, time) if you are focused on making their shares equal, then you are not understanding. They don't both need 3 pancakes, they need how ever many get them full. They don't both need 1.3 hours a day with you, they need however much gets them full.

[sleepies]

tons of 1/1 time!

my oldest is only here friday-monday (during summer and friday-sunday during school)

when my oldest is here i make SURE to do things with JUST HIM.

we always spend at least 2 hours by ourselves per weekend...but sometimes mroe. never less.


and of course, im 1/1 all the weekdays with my toddler.


if we all lived together, all the time, id still have 1/1 time with toddler due to my son's being in school.....but id be sure to make special "date time" with my oldest .

from the tme my baby was 2 weeks old, my oldest and i have went out by ourselves for about 2-3 horus per weekend, it is nice
he is ten