How often do you glance at the world but not spend any time eye-to-eye with those who are important to you? Today’s post is from Tommy marketing director, AnnJanette Toth. She’s not a mom, yet, but her insights are powerful in opening our eyes to making true connections with the children in our lives, and even more importantly with the one who calls us His children.

making eyetime

“Some of the great things about social media are the posts that start-up conversations and hopefully spur on action and motion among people who will have positive effects that will help others and so on. My team at Tommy Nelson posted a re-tweet from a mom, @MommyMishmash, that said
“I give my kids at least 15 mins of “eyetime” everyday. I look them in the eyes & we talk.”
I thought this was a great idea for kids to get some one-on-one time with their parents each day. I was telling a co-worker about this, and he mentioned that he did a similar thing with his kids by holding them for 20 minutes in the evenings each night to be still. His son was not going to sleep and was having some hyperactive tendencies, but as they continued this practice each night, his son started going to bed on time and sleeping soundly and the hyperactive tendencies went away.



“As I was thinking through how wonderful that was, it made me think of my own “busy busy” life and how I tend to be running from here to there. I thought of how may of us have trouble calming down at night in this fast-paced world. I wondered what it would be like if I took 20 minutes out of my day just to sit in the quiet with my own Heavenly Father and allowed Him to hold me and calm me. I wonder if that would truly be a time that would take some of that stress and craziness out of my life if I had some time to let my Heavenly Father wrap His arms around me.”

What ways do you carve out this kind of time for your family and yourself?



Whether it’s holding your children, or sitting silently with your Father, we hope you have “eyetime” to focus on those important connections, today and everyday!