Area woman encourages families to spend quality time together in new book
Parents and grandparents, do you feel you never seem to have enough quality time with your young children?
Lansdale resident Marilynn Sambrano is a retired school social worker who sees that families today have little time to spend together. “These days many parents have jobs, some live far away from their children and grandchildren and rarely get to see each other, and the kids’ schedules are so full,” she said.
“When they finally get together, they say ‘I love you’ and then the kids go watch TV or get on their computers or iPhones,” she added. “Even the little kids do that.”
So Sambrano has written a book to encourage family members to spend quality time together. “I describe many ideas that show our kids that we can be loving and fun at the same time,” she said.
The book is titled “Bonding With Our Children in Fun and Easy Ways,” and subtitled “Good for Parents and Grandparents Alike.”
Sambrano explained that the book includes 52 ideas and projects that parents and grandparents can do to get closer to their children. It is geared toward children in elementary school and younger. Sambrano said there is also a section in the back of the book for adults titled “Confidence Building Tips for Being a Good Role Model.”
In writing the book, Sambrano calls on her experience of working with children, parents and families in Detroit, MI elementary and middle schools for 23 years. She has a master’s degree in social work and has also done counseling of children with various groups, including bereavement centers, and has written many articles for publications. She has lived in Lansdale, where she has family, for the past 15 years.
Sambrano said she got a lot of the ideas from things she has done with her own children and grandchildren.
One of the points she makes in the book is based on “drawing out emotions.” “We need to be careful because children often have feelings they need to get out,” she explained. She recalled one of her children didn’t want to leave playing on a swing when it was getting too cold outside, and instead of hollering at her Sambrano brought her inside and gave her a pencil and paper. “She drew out how she felt and made a monster out of me,” Sambrano said. “Then she smiled and laughed, and instead of getting angry she let her feelings out.”
Sambrano suggests starting with simple things children can do when they are little. They could make a little card or draw a heart and leave it where mom or dad can find it.
Another idea looks at how clean up can be made fun by having the children pick up all the red things, then another color and another. “Then the room is cleaned up and we don’t have to admonish them,” she explained.
“Take it as it happens,” Sambrano advises. One day when they were outside in the hot sun, she said she suggested they sit in the car and one child decided to be the driver behind the wheel and then another that she was the pilot of an airplane. “They used their imagination,” she said. In another instance, Sambrano said the older sister went off with a friend and the younger one was left wailing, so she got out a bucket of water and they cleaned the car. “Rather than her feeling sorry, I made it fun for her,” she said.
“To be a good role model for kids there are a lot of things you can do without saying it,” Sambrano added. “Just leave a book out on the counter.”
One thing she does is writing letters about what the kids are doing today and maybe what it was like when she was their age. She doesn’t mail them but they know they are there for them to read 10 or 20 years from now.
The book is $11.99 and can be purchased at www. archwaypublishing.com or amazon.com or by calling archway at 888-242-5904.