better
FAMILY
Just the Two of Us
Spending one-on-one time with each of your children
is essential to building a strong, lasting bond.
by DEBBE GEIGER
O
n the day Michelle Browne became a foster mom in Topton,
Pennsylvania, her family grew from her own three boys to
five boys in the time it took for a social worker to unload the
new children from a subcompact car.
After a couple of months, the newly enlarged family found its rhythm,
and life started to normalize. But as Michelle walked in the door one
afternoon, returning from one of the many appointments most foster
children require, she realized that she had spent a lot of one-on-one time
with her two foster boys and not a moment alone with her own children
since the day the social worker arrived on the doorstep.
That night, she and her husband hatched a plan. One week, one of
their two older boys (the youngest was still an infant) would choose an
activity. The next week was the other son’s turn. Michelle and her
husband would alternate weeks so that each of them had two one-on-one
periods with each boy every month, events that became known as Mama-
Papa days. “That was over eight years ago,” says Michelle. “We don’t
foster-parent anymore, but all of our boys still ask for Mama-Papa days.”
These special times are an integral part of parent/child relationships,
says Mimi Doe of Concord, Massachusetts, author of
Busy But Balanced:
Practical and Inspirational Ways to Create a Calmer, Closer Family.
“It
helps you know them as the unique people they are outside of the family
walls. It allows open-ended time that might not come up in everyday life.”
Each day of our
lives we make
deposits in the
memory banks
of our children.
— CHARLES R. SWINDOLL
The most interesting
iformation comes
om children, for
hey tell all they
know and then stop.
— MARK TWAIN
You are the
bows from
which your
children as
living arrow:
are sent fo
— KAHLIL GIBRAN
254
NOVEMBER
2009
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
