Game of Ping-Pong, anyone?
I left you hanging last week when mentioning about creating my Genius hour product. This product is something that will help me in the process of better connecting with my son each day in order to foster closeness and attachment...but I can’t tell you exactly what it is just yet.
What I can tell you is, that this week, I was wanting to start implementing some of the things that I had learned with my son. In the second post I talked about the ways to connect with your children (here is a little recap)...
+ Make time.
+ Be close / physically connect
+ Listen / talk
+ Have FUN!
So, first thing I did was figure out a time with my son that was free of all distractions (phones, school work, dinner making, etc) . Since he is in school now, we decided that the moment he got off the bus is when we are going to have a half-hour of quality time together. I had been reminded of something when I was re-reading an adoption parenting book during my Genius Hour that was so relevant to what I am trying to do! The book, Parenting your Internationally Adopted Child, talked about “The Ping-Pong Pattern of Interaction” (Cogen, 2008). It stated:
“when a parent and child interact and connect, energy flows back and forth between them. This pattern is evident in a wide range of behaviours: soothing activities such as rocking; passing a toy or throwing a ball back and forth; and in different modes of communication, such as eye contact and face-to-face interaction, the imitation of sounds, and conversation. This pattern is called ping pong interaction, because it resembles the swift exchanges of a ping-pong game. The Ping-Pong interaction pattern enables a child to become, and remain, calm and alert.” (Cogen, 2008.)
After being apart all day long while your child is at school, it is important for them to feel close and connected to you again once they get home so that they can decompress and wind down from the day. I decided that we would simply play catch for our time together...and guess what? It was amazing! We talked, laughed, and smiled at each other. The best part...when I said the time was over and he could do what he wanted, he said he wanted to keep going!
It’s a small act, a small part of my day, but the impact that it had was amazing. It carried over in our moods the rest of the evening. All of this to say, this topic, this research, this focus has me excited!
So, other than starting to put my research to the test, I spent my week working on my final product. I made it, sent it to be printed, and am so excited to try it out and share it with you all! There were times of frustration (using technology can be tricky, especially when it wasn’t something I had done before.) I actually called my husband in for backup and he walked me through some of the technical parts which was appreciated greatly.
Before next week, I will have spent more intentional time with my son, playing “Ping-Pong” games and
trying out my newly created activity with him!
I look forward to that half-hour each day with him, and of course, sharing my thoughts with you!
