Interaction: One Size Fits All?

I often struggle with the question of how much parents should interact with their children during the day.  I love playing with Eian, but there are a lot of aspects of motherhood that are downright tedious.

According to The Mother’s Almanac, a somewhat dated but super-reassuring parenting book, you should spend at least five minutes of quality time with your child for every half hour they are awake.  The rest of the time, it’s good to let them explore on their own.  In Your Baby’s First Year, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you get down on the floor with your child at least one time each day.  So that’s what the experts say, but what is really the right thing to do?

I’ve found so far that being a mom is all about following your instincts.  One of the ways I do that is to interact with Eian when I feel he needs it.  It makes sense that no guideline for intensive interaction would be right for all children.  From what I’ve seen, there are very few hard and fast rules that hold true for all babies.  And even a single child will vary in his needs from day to day.  I guess it all just comes back to instincts.

How often do you interact with your child during the day?