Focus

Too often I find my focus is on my older children. They are the ones doing the neat things. They are busier. They have clever, fun things to say, and they are much better at securing my attention at appropriate times. Too often my little kids are left in the lurch. I do play and read to them, but they don't receive the special treatment the older kids. do I have realized that I need to fix this. My older kids had my undevided attention when they were young. Obviously, I cannot start ignoring my older kids, but I need to make sure I am making the little kids feel special and not just in a catergory of "sorry, you are too young."

In the last week, John and I have been trying to fix this. After I bought the older kids some music they wanted, I bought the little kids, Raffi's Singable Songs. I had a tape of this that the older kids listened to a ton in the car when they were toddlers. The little kids loved it. The older kids basked in nastalgia, and whenever we play the music, Anya and Rachel begin to dance and happily declare, "this is for me." John took Adam, and Rachel, and Anya out to ice cream and to the special art store we never bring them too. They came home happy and proud.

This is something I need to think about as a parent of many children. All of my children are special to me, and I want them all to feel that way. So I need to remember to shift my focus from the older kids to the younger kids some each day.