Eye Contact

I've read a lot of adoption/attachment/parenting advice. Some of it has been so insightful and tremendously helpful. Some of it is hard to understand, but some is really simple.

Like eye contact.

In the last week, I have been trying to be purposeful about eye contact. I used to consider myself really good at this. I was a listener who looked people in the eyes, holding their gaze, intently observing all the nonverbal cues that filled out their communication. Sometime in the last four years of being a parent, however, I think I misplaced my emphasis on eye contact. I became a multi-tasker. There's a lot to do as a mom of one...two...three...four.

This week, I've realized there's a lot to miss as a mom of four, too, if you forget to make eye contact. So, I'm reforming...forcing myself to turn away from justifiably significant tasks in order to have (admittedly, often nonsensical) conversations with my full attention. I don't think it matters so much what is said. It matters that I'm fully there.