5 Simple things you should do with your child every day to encourage building positive relationships in early childhood.
As a mom of young children, it can be overwhelming trying to navigate all the daily things to do with your kids to protect, love, and care for my girlies. Not a single one of the children I have known came with an instruction manual and that can be scary at times.
You may be wondering what should I do with my child? Should I play with my child? What should I do with my kids at home? These are fantastic questions and you’ve come to the right place! Keep reading to find out 5 simple but critical things you should do with your child every day.
You want to do everything you can for your child to make sure they are safe, clean, fed, watered, well-rested (even if you aren’t), loved, and nurtured. Even the basic of things such as feeding can become overwhelming with so much information about food allergies, lactose intolerance, gluten-free, dye-free, etc, etc. But what to do with your child doesn’t have to be hard!
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5 Things to Do with Your Child to Build Positive Relationships in Early Childhood
Everything you do with your child has an incredible impact on them. Especially when they are young, these activities and time become building blocks for positive relationships as they grow older. These daily things to do with your kids are critical for building positive relationships as they grow older.
Each one of these simple, free things to do with your kids is simple, and all that’s required is you. These are the important building blocks that will mold and shape your child and build positive relationships in early childhood that will grow with your child through the coming years.
There are many ways to encourage building a positive relationship with kids in the early childhood years. Most of these are simply accomplished through intentional time together. Your young child is like a sponge. Young children are watching, listening, and absorbing the things around them. Their minds are growing at a rapid pace as they are learning new words, and emotions, connecting new concepts with things they already know, and building relationships with those around them.
1. Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood Through Communication
Studies have found that a child builds 85% or more of their brain core structure in the first five years of life. One of the most important things you should do with your child every day is spending time talking. Even before a baby has learned how to talk, a parent should talk to the child to encourage language acquisition, express love and care for the child, and develop a habit of communication.
Talking to your child introduces and adds vocabulary, provides meaning to the conversation, helps children learn how to communicate and have conversations, and teaches them to take turns in talking and listening. Intentionally talking to you and with your child as one of the important daily things to do with your kids raises the value of your time together as you talk. Not to check it off the list, but rather to get to know each other, learn about things they are learning and interested in, and teach them things you know and value.
As your child grows, talk to them about the things they are interested in. Model what good conversation looks like. If you need help knowing what to talk about, check out these cute Conversation Starter Cards. Use one each night while you are eating supper or take them with you while you are driving.
Talk to your child about what you are doing, things you are seeing out the window of the car, and about feelings. Describe things to them and answer their “why” questions. Teach them to be kind in the way they talk to others and to you. Teach them to say please, thank you, I’m sorry, and I love you.
Talk to them about God and about how much He loves them and takes care of them. Tell your child how valuable they are to you and how much you love them.
2. Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood Through Reading
You’ve probably heard about the benefits of reading to your child. Many of these benefits are similar to talking to your child which helps with language acquisition. These benefits do not stop with young children! Reading aloud helps a child acquire new vocabulary and understanding of new words.
Listening to someone reading aloud also helps children develop a sense of correct sentence structure. Choosing a variety of books and stories to read together helps children develop the ability to discern meaning from context. When you add reading together to your daily things to do with your kids, you are placing value on the written word and how that has the power to transform and teach.
Voice inflection can even help children learn proper punctuation just by the natural pauses that we incorporate when we read a sentence with commas, periods, questions, or exclamation marks.
Reading together inspires imagination, creativity, and vision. Character-building stories can help your child relate to tough topics that children may find difficult to understand. A child is never too young to be read to. They will also learn to love being held or sitting close when you read which also fosters security in a child.
Choose Books Carefully
Choose books that will encourage kindness and character traits that you want to encourage in your children. Read Bible stories to help your child learn to love the characters in the Bible and teach them the lessons portrayed by people. Reading Bible stories as one of your daily things to do with your kids will provide the opportunity for more conversation as you talk about the story together.
Read stories about Daniel – who would only worship God, Joseph – who followed God in spite of difficult times, and Moses – who listened and obeyed God’s command to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt.
Choosing books to read out loud can be so much fun. When you start a series of books that is exciting, you share the joy of reading together. As a child, my mom read to us while we were on road trips and my dad read to us at night. I can still remember the specific books we read by the campfire at Teton National Park and the book we read by the fire while we were on a canoe trip in Canada.
RELATED: Exciting Preschool Reading Activities to Encourage Young Readers
3. Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood Through Singing
Another important thing to do with your child each day is to fill their life with music. Music has the ability to evoke emotions and can rapidly build memory skills. You don’t have to be an accomplished musician to sing with your child.
It is amazing to watch and listen to a young child sing and realize how much they have stored up in their memory in music. Singing encourages listening and copying or echoing which in turn helps a child to learn to differentiate sounds, tones, words, and rhythm.
Because music also has the ability to impact our emotions it can be a powerful tool to use in learning. Children can learn their ABCs and counting, they can sing story songs, and learn Bible verses much more easily with music.
Music can provide the backdrop for happy feelings and also evoke feelings of sadness. Music can unlock memories that have been stored away for a long time. There are many stories of older people who have had memory issues, but when music from their earlier life was played, they were able to remember different things. Those memories are grounded in childhood.
Choose the music you play, sing, and listen to, carefully because songs stick in our heads. Fill your child’s world with happy music, songs about Jesus, and classical music to encourage their brain development. When you add music into your daily things to do with your kids, fill your mind and theirs with music that is uplifting and will help them grow in their character.
Encouraging your child to experience and move to music also encourages their gross motor skill development and helps them learn to do two things at once such as singing and dancing or singing and actions.
RELATED: How to Capture Teachable Moments with Young Children
4. Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood Through Play
Playing is an essential part of childhood, and adulthood as well. Babies learn through their senses as they play and explore. As children develop, playing encourages their curiosity, imagination, and social learning as well.
Second, only to talking, playing is one of the things you should do with your kids daily that will take the most time. But, playing together can be so rewarding! Playing with your children can teach them new ways to use their imagination – such as having a play dough picnic and making “food” or building roads and streets with blocks.
Children imitate what they observe and they love to observe and imitate us! Just watch a young child with their parent’s cell phone and you can quickly see how they love to imitate adults.
When you take time to play with your children, you are communicating to them that they are valuable. They are worth your time. They are important to you. Playing games together teaches children how to take turns, how to be a good loser, and how to be kind when you win.
Inspire Creativity
Playing with toys with your children often encourages conversations and scenarios that might not happen if you weren’t playing together. These can turn into teachable moments that you can use to train your children or teach them something they don’t know.
Spending time playing with your child provides the opportunity to see what they are acting out and hear the conversations that their toys are having. These are great opportunities to gauge what your child is hearing and seeing.
If your child plays with her dolls and one doll is always mean to the other one, this can provide the opportunity to talk about what your child is thinking and why the doll would be unkind to the other one. Perhaps your child is role-playing something they have observed.
When playing with cars, you can use the opportunity to have conversations about colors or how many of a certain type of car. These opportunities provide windows into what your child is learning and processing.
As your child gets older, the conversations will become more complex and the playing may change, but the bond that develops from playing with your child will strengthen the more you do it.
RELATED: Play-Based Learning – Easy Ways to Incorporate Learning into Everyday Play
5. Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood Through Prayer
Prayer may be the first or last thing to do with your child every day, but it is eternally the most important. Praying with your child is one of the most important things you can teach your child. Teaching them to pray introduces and builds your child’s relationship with Jesus. Praying every day models a positive relationship and builds trust and feelings of security and safety.
There are many opportunities to pray throughout the day and the more you pray with your child, the more comfortable it will become. Pray at mealtimes, in the morning, in the evening before bedtime, when you’re traveling, when they are scared, when you’ve lost something, or when they are happy.
Teach your child that Jesus is the first person you talk to when you are afraid. Be intentional about praying in front of your child or within their view. If you are having devotional time in the morning, do it where your child will see you. Talk about your answers to prayer with your child. Create a family worship time that you spend together each day
Don’t stop at just praying with your child, but also pray for your child. When you pray for your children, you are praying prophetic words into your child’s life. When you pray for their choices, growth, and safety, you are praying for the future and not just the now.
Pray for wisdom as a mom. Ask God to help your life will be an example of Jesus’ love for your child. Pray that God will put a hedge of protection around your child, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Start praying circles around the life of your child.
When you pray with your child, you are building a positive relationship with them as they are connecting with Jesus. As you pray together, your relationship will grow as you see God’s answers to your prayer, and are able to share your burdens or fears with Him.
RELATED: 9 Simple Prayers for Mothers Who Need Help
Final Thoughts on Building Positive Relationships in Early Childhood
Being a parent isn’t always easy, but with Jesus at your side, you can be the best mom your child needs. Children don’t need fancy clothes, high-end food, or matching bedroom furniture. They really just need YOU. They need to know that you love them. They need to experience this and feel this every single day. When that part of their life is stable and consistent, they are set to learn and grow and mature in a healthy way. When you consistently spend time with your child, the daily things you do with your child will build the foundation for a lifetime relationship.
Savor every moment, Mom! The days go by slowly but the years go by fast! Take time today to do these 5 things with your kids whether you are at home, in the car, or visiting a relative. Spend some quality time with your child today and start building positive relationships in early childhood that will last long into the coming years.
You may also like these Biblical parenting links…
- Tips for Sitting in Church with Kids
- Bedtime Prayers – Creating an Evening Routine
- 52 Memory Verses for Kids to Memorize
- Family Worship Ideas with Kids
- Morning Prayers for Families
- Teaching Kids to Pray
- 9 Powerful Prayers for Your Daughter
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These are great! I’m really trying to get better at reading my with my boys. We are trying to help them learn how to pray as well. Playing with them and singing with them and talking to them is natural for us now 🙂
Isn’t it funny how we have to learn how to talk to our kids? I remember feeling a bit silly having conversations with my kids but the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes! Sounds like you are on the right track!
These are things as a parent I would hope that we would all be doing with our children. They are only small once.
That’s for sure. They grow up so quickly!
Since having a child I am frequently overwhelmed with everything I am supposed to be doing to make sure she is happy and healthy. I think sometimes it’s good to relax and trust you are doing your best. My daughter recently started singing songs and it has been so much fun to listen to her- and join in! And thanks for the reminder to pray with them daily- this is so important!
Oh, I love that your daughter is singing! I love hearing little ones sing! And you are right, relax and trust that you are doing your best.
I love this list, and they’re all easy things to actually do, which is essential when you have more than one kid! Yesterday my daughter wanted to play with me. I had 100 other things to do, but I stopped and played with her for 10 minutes. At the end of the day she said it was the favorite part of her day. That meant the world to me, so I need to be more intentional about one-on-one play time with her.
Oh, you are so right. Those moments that we stop and spend time with our kids make their world right! Good for you for taking the time even when you felt you didn’t have the time.
We do all of these with our kids. Well, we sometimes miss the play every day since they are in school all day long, but we do the rest. These are great ways to stay connected to our kids and get to know them better.
Sounds like your kids are blessed indeed to have a family who is focused on connecting! Good job.
Reading and praying with my children are at the top of my list. This is a great reminder! Always cherish the moments with the kiddos because one day the memories will outweigh it all.
Yes, the time does go quickly! Those memories we build each day will help to keep a close relationship in the future.
These are SUCH great reminders! You would think they’d be obvious, but sometimes with so many other things going on it’s easy to let the reading slide, or just command you child around without actually talking with them.
Yes, Justine. It’s very easy to get busy and forget to spend that quality time with our kids.
Reading with your child is such a great way to connect with quality time…and maybe some extra snuggles. Now that my children are 10 and 13, I try to find times to read together but it is much harder than when they were little.
We read books on car trips and every night before bedtime. As an adult, I still love to listen to my parents read stories!
This are definitely some of the most important things to share with your child I try to do at least few minutes of each everyday thank you for sharing.
You are welcome!
I have littles, and the days pass so quickly! I love spending time with them as their personalities grow. They say the funniest things throughout our days together! Your writing is an excellent reminder to stop and think about what is truly important in life.
I love listening to the cute and funny things children say. It’s a reminder to really listen.
Love this! All of these things should be happening every day. Such a great way to build your relationship with your child and prepare them for the future.
We do these with my 14 month old every day! Reading is his absolute favorite right now. The time definitely does go by fast.
Good for you! Keep reading and your baby will learn so much from you!
I really like how you included singing with your child. It’s really beneficial for child development to include music into their life. We are constantly singing and or dancing at my house.
Sounds like lots of happiness at your house!
I love the idea of reading to your kids while on a road trip! I don’t want to rely on screens as we travel in the future. I’m definitely going to implement this.
It really helps to pass the time and keep everyone busy with their imaginations rather than poking on their seat mates!
Music is so powerful. I only have a 6 week old but I have found that music will soothe him to sleep and when he is fussy me singing can immediately calm him down
It’s so true. Music can soothe a soul from young to old!
We were great at reading told our oldest, not so much with my second. I am trying to get better at reading to them both more. I also agree with playing with them. With two, I expect them to play with each other while I take care of the home, but I have to take a moment and play with them as well.
Yes, it takes intentionality to play with the kids, but it’s even more important with the second one so they get that bonding time with you as well.
Great ideas!! Stuff I gotta remember!
these are all great. my son hates when i sing, but hes really into classical covers of popular songs, so thats our time to bond with youtube videos lol
So perhaps opera singing isn’t as much of a participatory type of music, but it’s great that you are enjoying classical music together.
I do all 5 of these every day with my boys! To be honest, playing is the hardest for me! ? But part of being a mom is stretching yourself and learning to meet your children’s needs, even when it doesn’t come naturally. Great post, and something all parents should read!
Isn’t it funny that playing can be the hardest part of interacting with our kids? I have found that to be the case as well over the years. Perhaps it’s because playing is so open ended. Keep at it. It will become easier.
Karen, these 5 things are so special and so important to do with your child/children. Singing, reading, and praying with my daughter are the highlights to my day. I believe children can grow up much happier when we follow through with doing these things with them each day!
It’s so true. Spending this intentional time with our kids helps them grown into well adjusted, secure, loved teens and then adults.
Yes! These 5 things will make such a tremendous difference in their little lives! I love that you simplified and distilled it down to talk, read, sing, play and pray. It makes it seem more manageable.
Thanks Amy! Parenting shouldn’t be as complicated as we sometimes make it. 🙂
Yes totally agree. its amazing how many people don’t even think to read with their children
It’s true and as a teacher, I can tell you which child has someone read to them at home and which one doesn’t! It’s amazing what a difference it makes.
Yes to all of these!! I have the little “Praying Mom” flip calendar in my kitchen to remind me to pray for them during the day.
That is such a great idea! It’s so easy to forget or get busy with other things!
What an awesome list! I do all of these with my toddler every morning as part of our routine since I have less time with her before bed. It is so important to take the time to focus on them even when life is at its busiest.
That’s awesome! Good for you for making the priority every day!
Reading to children is so important! I have such great memories of my mom reading Heroes of the Faith and Little House of the Prarie out loud to me and my brothers when I was little. Thanks for the tips – will definitely be referencing back here again.
Yes, Little House on the Prairie was a favorite at our house too.
Play with your child, pray with your child. SO GOOD friend. I think praying with your little one is going to be one that will stay with them, it always has stayed with me.
That’s right! And our prayers can keep coming even after they grow up!
It is the simple little things that can make such a big difference! We read every night to our daughter before bed (she can’t go to sleep without hearing a story first). She absolutely loves to sing and goes around making up her own songs all of the time (which is absolutely adorable to hear). I am trying to find ways to play with her that are enjoyable for both of us because it can be hard sometimes. Thanks for sharing such a great post!
Bedtime stories provide you with the opportunity to fill their minds with imagination and good things that you choose! It also helps them read better when they start reading!
Reading is always a great one! It’s a great way to keep their minds active and spend time with them at the same time. These are all so important though – great list!
-Jennifer
Yes, I loved the time of reading to my kiddos when they were young! We read a LOT of books together!
Singing is so important but so often overlooked! It’s amazing how the hymns my mom sung to me when I was a child still come to mind in troubled times.
Isn’t that the truth! Our memories are amazing and if we can stuff God’s word and good music into the minds of our children, it will come back to them when they need it!
Love this so much! I wish I could go back and talk to my little girls again and tell them about Jesus and how much He loves them!! To be able to pray with them when they were little would have been so awesome! But I know God redeems it all and I trust His light and presence will fill their lives, too.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful list of things to do with children. Mine are all grown but those things listed still apply but in different ways. Thanks for the encouragement.
This is a great list. These are things that I can definitely do when I have my nieces and nephews with me and I share this information to those who may need it,
Thank you, Tona! I’m sure your nieces and nephews will love spending time with you!
Hi, Karen! This is such a beautiful post! Thank you for writing about this! 🙂
These are great advises – Talk, Read, Sing, Play and Pray.
I most especially like the fact that the mouth is involved in achieving all these five; this means ways to communicate and create bond with our kids.
God bless.
Thank you, Kristie!
I love that you mention singing. I knew a girl that could recite Bible verses but it was always the ones she had learnt through singing them as choruses in Sunday school. If she remembered the melody she could remember the words. Music is so powerful
Yes! That is so true. Things set to music are things that stick in our mind!
Intentional parenting that focus on nurturing is so important. Great ideas here! And then, as the kids get older you’ll discover their love languages and be able to design quality times for each one.
These are great tips! One thing I have learned about talking to my kids is to stop what I’m doing and get down to their eye level. So often I am bustling around and they are following after me jabbering away and that is not real communication. Thank you for the reminder to slow down and make my time with my kids meaningful.
These are such great suggestions. I love how you broke it down into simple tasks that can be done easily each day!
It’s true that children don’t come with a manual, but it doesn’t have to be so hard.
Just remember that they are small humans who need love and attention like you did especially when you were little.
That is absolutely correct. We often make it harder than it needs to be by trying to do all the things everyone else is doing.
This is a fabulous list of things to do with your children. My son is 19 now but we have prayed through the years with him. He had some comprehension issues a few years ago and we were marveling how God has restored those lost years to him. His teachers said they didn’t know how to help him but we have an awesome Father that knows exactly what we need. Our son has nearly finished his first term in journalism school and he is top of the class – there are no comprehension issues!
This is such a great post. Our children so need all these things. Who can be a perfect parent always getting it right? But, this is great guidance for areas that help our children thrive. Thank you!
Thank you Pam! Yes, there are always so many more things we can do with and for our kids, but focusing on the most important ones sets the security and love for later years and different experiences.