7 Easy Ways to Build a Strong Relationship with My Baby

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It is important to me to build a strong relationship with my baby.

Without a relationship, you will not be able to lead and guide them as they navigate the world. Children are not your slaves and not burdens so you shouldn’t treat them as such.

Building a relationship with your child starts when they are young. As babies, you should be playing with them, acting silly with them, and helping them achieve their milestones. You should not just set them on the floor and go do whatever it is that you want to do. You are their primary caregiver and you should be interacting with them.

As Cora gets older, I want her to be able to come to me with problems or questions she has. In order to achieve that, I need to be able to have a relationship with her. I need to spend one-on-one time with her and make sure she knows that I love her.

Even though Cora’s only 10 months, I can still do a lot of things with her that will nurture our relationship. And we are striving as parents to actually have a relationship with her.

My husband grew up not having a good relationship with his parents and as he moved out and was on his own it got worse each passing year. He sees the relationship I have with my own parents because of what they did while I was growing up. They actually spent lots of one-on-one time with me, while his parents didn’t. So something we do is spend one-on-one time with her.

What I Am Doing Now to Build a Strong Relationship with My Baby:

Reading Books

Babies LOVE books. I am currently reading books with Cora that have flaps to encourage her to use her pincer grasp and learn object permanence. Her current favorite book like this is Dear Zoo which I find to be a great book to build a strong relationship with my baby.

Narrating my day

As I go about my day doing chores like laundry, doing the dishes, and cleaning I narrate what I am doing. Cora will crawl to be next to me and watch me as I do these chores. I am exposing her to new words and meanings as I am doing these tasks. As she gets older she will slowly start to do these chores with me. I want to build a strong relationship with my baby Cora so she can know what I am doing and she can try to be like me.

Spend time in the kitchen with me

Cora loves to spend time in the kitchen with me. She’ll sometimes play in the Tupperware drawer while I am cooking or she’ll want to be picked up so she can see what I am doing. I build a strong relationship with my baby when she spends time watching me do regular things around the house like cooking.

While my husband and I are making dinner together, she loves to be held to see what we are cutting or cooking. As we are doing this, we are both narrating what we are doing. We say things like “Do you see mom is cutting up the tomato? Tomatoes are red. Can you say, mama?”

Going on walks

Cora and I will go on a walk together once a day (as long as the weather is nice). This gets us both out of the house and allows Cora to see other people, places, and things. While I am pushing her on the stroller (this is the stroller I use and I love it!) we will talk. I will say things like “Do you feel the wind on your face? Is the sun bright today? How are you feeling?”.

Cora doesn’t know many words but she will blab back to me. This sets up a good foundation to build a strong relationship with my baby Cora for when she gets older she will know that when she talks, I will listen.

Playing with your baby

Playing with your baby gives both of you a chance to be together. Games like peek-a-boo or blocks (these are my current favorite blocks) are great activities to play together. Cora loves it when I crawl around with her, dance with her, and when I help her walk around the house. I love playing with Cora because she laughs and giggles and it establishes trust and a bond with me. I find when you are both having a good time and having fun is a great way to build a strong relationship with my baby.

Hugging and kissing her

Children need to feel and know that they are loved no matter what they do. It is completely unacceptable and is child abuse if you ever lay a hand on your child in anger to punish them. This teaches the child is to fear you and whenever they are touched by mom and dad they are in trouble. The child will not know they are loved by you and will not trust you. If you want to read more about what child abuse causes in children this is a great article by the Mayo Clinic.

I adore Cora and will do anything for her. When I build a strong relationship with my baby I can see it in her eyes. I hug and kiss her often to show my love for her. There are times when she drives me insane and I get really angry. Those are the times I need to set her down in a safe place, like her crib, and go outside and take a breather.

Saying I love you

Say “I love you” often to your child. This is a phrase you can never say too much. Children need to know that you love and care for them and this is a way to express that. When they know that you truly love and care for them, they will trust you.

There are many ways to build a strong relationship with my baby. What are some things that you do with your baby? Tell me below.