Until the last year or so, I was a working mom.  For awhile, I was even a single working mom. I spent a lot of my time feeling guilty about not being able to spend enough time with my kids. When I did get home from work, I would spend the rest of my evening doing things with my kids since I had so little time with them. 

When I was finally able to become a stay at home mom a year ago, I was so excited!  I'd get to be with my kids all the time - no more guilt!  Until I realized that I was actually spending less time with my kids as a stay at home mom than I did as a working mom!  Technically, I spend more time with them now, but I paid a lot more attention to them when I worked than I do now. 

As I spoke to friends that also stayed at home, I realized I wasn't the only one struggling with this. Stay at home mom's get so busy with all the things going on at home and since we're with our kids all the time, it's easy to exchange quality time with a large quantity of time! 

In an effort to change my bad habits, I've started setting aside a half an hour in the morning to do anything my daughter wants to do.  Somedays we watch a TV show, sometimes we make pancakes, sometimes we color.  I've also made it a habit to sit down with her for lunch every day and then to spend another 15 minutes reading a book.  When her big sister gets home from school, we all go for a walk or play outdoors for awhile. 

I suspect that there are other mom's out there that feel like they are sacrificing quality for quantity.   If you are a new stay-at-home mom or just feel like you aren't spending enough quality time with your kids, it's really as easy as setting aside some set times every day that you put down everything else that you are doing to just hang out with your kids.  

The amazing thing is that most kids will play better on their own after they have a good dose of attention from mom or dad!