Dear Friends,
Like many traditions that have endured over the years, making New Year’s resolutions serves a valuable purpose for me. It creates room for reflection and for refocusing myself on living with intention. My youngest child is 14 years old, however in the whirlwind of raising small children, this was especially hard to do—and especially needed (then and now).
I know firsthand that days with little ones can feel so very long, yet the years feel all too short, and living them mindfully helps with both. To aid you in thinking about your values for the coming year, one thing strikes me as how important it is to “make time.”
Time is what every parent of young children feels they have the least of … and it’s the one irreplaceable gift to our kids, and ourselves, that really matters in the long run. But the funny thing about time is that it’s not absolute. Instead, it’s malleable, stretching or compressing on experience and memory.
Just like hours in pleasant company of friends and family can disappear at breakneck speed while minutes at the DMV stretch like hours, truly meaningful moments will loom larger in memory than the days or weeks surrounding them. Focus on creating those meaningful moments with your little one this year and give yourself a break about the rest of the time.
Fantastic ways to construct quality time together include sitting down to do a DIY craft or activity with your child, cooking a kid-friendly recipe together, cuddling over a shared book, or playing an old-fashioned board game. Why not take a few minutes to brainstorm what you’ll do together, so you have something up your sleeve when a window of time opens up? Spending quality time at Explore & More is always an option, too!
Hope to see you at the museum soon,
Lisa Chrapowicz
Director of Strategic & Community Initiatives
