- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- twins today articles
- twins today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Mommy and Me
The Importance of One-on-One Time By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Added Benefits
The benefit of one-on-one time between parents and children goes beyond making memories. Negative effects and behaviors can often occur when a child is deprived of the parents' sole attention. The child may feel he is not getting the attention he truly wants and will settle for whatever he can get, including the negative. "It's hard for a child that never has time alone with their parents because they may always feel deprive of parental attention," says Pieper. "The danger is they will try to get the parents attention in a negative way in acting out behaviors, temper tantrums, hitting, biting, writing on walls, however they feel they can get that attention. Kids really need focused attention from parents; they need it. It is part of their requirements of growing up, just as they need food. They will get it one way or another. It's much better to have the child know that he is going to have someone to one positive attention from parents then to force them into a corner to where the only kind of attention they can get is negative." 
In families with more then one child, sharing special time with your children is essential. Each child needs to know they are loved as a person, not just as part of the family. Especially now, in a world where most families rely on both parents working outside the home, children desire their parents attention.
"In this hectic world of have to do, have to finish and needs to be done, remind yourselves, as parents, that nothing has to be," says Joyce Roberson a therapist from Albuquerque, N.M. "You can look back, at the end of every day and ask yourself, 'Is my child happy and healthy at this minute?' If your answer is yes, nothing else has to be."