Slow down – Look your children in their eyes everyday – childhood is fleeting…

This is the gist of what *is not* an original mantra today…I just saw this and wanted to share it with you just in case you haven’t discovered the artist’s page on facebook – you can place an order there if you want to hang this lovely reminder to slow down every day:  https://www.facebook.com/slowdownmummy1

Ironically, I had a day today where I did slow down.  As I have started a calendar/organizer system again, I look at the day and week ahead at night before I go to bed.  I knew that today, we had to get Puma ready for her field trip with her grandparents, so we had to get an early start to her schoolwork.  I didn’t have any anxiety about letting Night Owl have a longer playtime after breakfast because I knew he and I would have some one-on-one time this afternoon to get his reading done.  I knew that this is a day when we are not having to leave the house until 6:00 pm for our activities, so I would have all day to do school with them however it happened, and get writing done.

Oh.My.Gosh.  It was awesome.  Besides a lovely school day with all the Sweet Peas, I did a puzzle with Charger – just he and I.  Otter wanted to do two puzzles…and we did those, too.

Now…to figure out how to do that on days when I haven’t looked at the schedule the night before, or how to do that when the days are beyond full.  They are the most important thing to me – I know that deep in the core of my being.  Time after time I am reminded that they will not remember what I did when they look back at their childhood – they will remember the time we spent together.

I wish I could make every second precious, make every second count.  I wish I was uber-crafty or a gifted baker, or that I loved to spend hours in the kitchen, and still get our schooling done.  Although I am not those things right now, I can do what I do best – read to them, play with them, and remind them that they are loved.

How do you carve out time to spend with your Sweet Peas?  
Do you feel like you have a good system in place to care for them and get the rest of what you “do” done?

If so, please share!  I still have a pile of mail that needs attention…