Coaching practices for Make Time as a Parent

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Make Time as a Parent, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I keep meaning to spend real one-on-one time with my kid but it gets squeezed out by everything else, and I think the unpredictability is part of why they keep grabbing at me
• There’s a window every day
• I know what the one important thing is, but I keep leaving it for "later when I have time," and later never comes
• Guarding my focus time makes me feel guilty and a little unreachable, like I’m leaving people stranded
• My kid only seems to come at me when they want something or when they’re acting out, and I realize the only time I really pay full attention is when I’m correcting them

Practices that may help

1. Schedule and protect special time as a non-negotiable
   Put it in the calendar, name it, and keep the appointment.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
2. Use special time to fill the connection cup before problems escalate
   A proactive ten-minute connection recharge can prevent an afternoon of battles.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
3. Make time before the day fills
   Block time for the Highlight first, so it isn’t left to leftover scraps of the day.
   Make Time, Made Practical
4. Offer office hours to concentrate collaboration
   Designate one or two open windows per day when collaborators can reach you freely, then protect everything else.
   Maker vs Manager Schedule
5. Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
   Special time is a structured daily or near-daily practice of ten to twenty minutes of fully child-directed, uninterrupted one-on-one play, drawn from Lawrence Cohen's Playful Parenting framework. It fills the child’s attachment "cup," reduces bids for attention through misbehavior, and builds the relationship reserve that makes limits and teaching more effective. Clinical and observational evidence consistently supports child-directed play as a relationship and behavior intervention.
6. Spend quality one-on-one time with your child
   Fifteen minutes of child-led, uninterrupted attention per day builds the relationship that discipline depends on.
   Triple P Parenting (Matthew Sanders)
7. Values-based scheduling
   Block time for purpose-aligned activities before reactive obligations fill the calendar.
   Purpose Anchors: Keeping Meaning Accessible Day to Day
8. Practice attention to time’s texture, not just its quantity
   How time feels is as important as how much there is — the same hours feel abundant or scarce depending on how they are experienced.
   Time Smart: Buying Back Your Time Affluence
9. Protecting unscheduled time
   Leave deliberate gaps in the calendar instead of filling every hour.
   Slow Living, Made Practical
10. Start the week by connecting your schedule to what you value
    Time feels well spent when you can articulate why it aligns with what matters to you.
    Time Affluence Practices (Cassie Holmes)

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