The important "T" of TRUST

Finally we come to TIME. Making the time and taking the time are crucial aspects of creating and maintaining the trust bank account in any relationship.

As parents, making the time means that you set aside time for quality interactions between parent and child.

Taking the time means that you follow through with that commitment.

How often have you heard a person promise to do something at a specific time only to renege on the promise because something came up "that was more important". (What is more important than your child?)If a person is consistent in setting time aside for the child and following through then the odd "something came up" will not drain the trust bank account.

If, however, the something came up is a familiar phrase then first of all don't promise and second of all start finding time. Trust depends on the commitment of time.

This reminds me of Harry Chapin's song "The Cats in the Cradle" which talks about how a child learns about commitment—or more specifically the lack of commitment—from his father.Listen to the song and think about your interactions with your children. If the song rings true, you might look at ways of changing the lack of trust into TRUST by modelling the commitment of spending some quality time.

Making the TIME and taking the TIME rounds out my thoughts on the meaning (and acronym) of TRUST. It's amazing how fast that trust can be built with sincere and committed actions.