Those moments when our children are disruptive or difficult can be tricky, because I think children want so many different things. Oftentimes, what they say they want takes on material form, and because parents are so harried and overworked, it's often a lot easier to just give children what they want. The objects start to take the place of really soul-satisfying, connective moments. When we ask ourselves that, it can lead us to see that something else is needed, and not necessarily something material or tangible. That's when this work of parenting calls upon our own genius to be really creative in those moments.
Every parent has that ability.
When our son was in nursery school, his teacher was struck by something that happened one morning. As the children sat on the floor in a circle, she asked each of them what they liked to hold when they went to sleep at night. Some children mentioned stuffed animals, others, their baby blankets. Finding time has become one of the real big issues for many people with both parents working, and with so many more single-parent families. I think attentive parenting requires the desire to really examine the fabric of your life.