Do you know that every parent has a very limited time to influence their kids positively?

About three days ago I called my daughter "my little angel" and she smiled and responded "dad, I'm still your angel but I'm no longer little". I laughed and told her that she'll always be my little angel irrespective of how grown she's become because she's my baby and she'll always be my baby...

The kid I was talking about is just 13 years old, though she has the physique of a 16 years old. These kids sometimes grow very fast that one begins to wonder if they are being fed daily with growth hormones.

My little daughter of yesterday is now telling me: her dad, that she's no longer little. Imagine if i had failed to bond with her, guide her aright and build a good relationship with her when she was little, how would our relationship be now that she's now considering herself to be a big girl?

She may probably start resisting my instructions and good gestures for her because she wouldn't feel any special bond with me. As a parent, when you fail to bond with your kids and build a strong and cordial relationship with them when they are little, you're positioning yourself to be resisted by such kids when they start thinking that they are grown up enough to start making their own decisions.

Someone once said that: "it is how you bond, guide and relate with your kids when they are little that would determine how such kids would relate with you when they think they've come of age to have their own say".

Relationship building with our kids is one vital aspect of parenting that we should never neglect as parents and we have very limited time to do that because the kids seem to be growing very fast.

Some of us consider ourselves to be great parents because we are meeteting our kids needs, while the kids may be thinking otherwise. Kids know when you're not giving them priority and it really makes them mad that they might start doing things to get back at you when they think that they have come of age. Aside directing your kids, guiding them aright and investing in their future, it is how you bond and relate with them that creates the fondest memories in the kids, and such bond is hardly broken even after the kids might have left home and have started their own families.

Relationship building with the kids should be the focal point of parenting because it influences how the kids would respond to your guidance, instructions and directions. Your kids may forget all the money you invested in them but they would never forget how you made them feel by being there for them and building a special connection with them. So it's in your best interest as a parent to start developing a loving and special bond with your kids because you have a very limited time to do that and that time is already counting very fast.