Do you wish there were more hours in the day to spend bonding with your child? Are you feeling as though you don’t have enough time for a daily exercise routine?

Our lives are so busy that many of us feel we can barely keep up, let alone add anything else to our daily responsibilities. However, walking your kids to school is a great way to incorporate both into your schedule. It’s a wonderful exercise for both you and your child.

According to the Mayo Clinic, some of the benefits of walking include, “Maintaining a healthy weight, preventing or managing various conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, strengthening your bones, lifting your mood, and improving your balance and coordination”. When we take a walk, it also allows us to relax and provides time to “stop and smell the roses”.

Everything around us was created by God, but it is often overlooked. When is the last time that you simply let the stress of the day go? Do you regularly stop to enjoy a Robin fluttering his wings on an early spring morning? How about the emerald green leaves of the tree growing in the yard; or the delicate petals of a flower that’s just began to bloom?

For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. —Colossians 1:16

Walking is not just physical exercise, but it can also be very therapeutic for the mind and spirit. It is imperative that you share this experience with your child. Teach them to enjoy nature and to respect it. In doing so, they are also learning the true meaning of beauty.

Children are a blessing, and it is our responsibility to honor God by providing them with a solid foundation. We always do our best to ensure that they have food, clothing, and shelter; but we must also nurture their spiritual side.

These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. . —Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Walking your child to school is a fantastic way to add an additional hour a day of quality time with them. It allows you one-on-one time to talk about what’s going on in their lives.

One of the most important things you can do during this walk is to put away your cell phone and give them your undivided attention. Children want to know that what they say and do is important and that it matters. Give them this needed validation and you will see your relationship flourish.

You could also take this opportunity to share one Bible verse a day, and to discuss it in detail without having any interruptions. What better way to strengthen their faith than by sharing God’s Word?

As a parent, nothing is more important than quality time with our children. It is astonishing to realize that there are only 940 weeks from the day they are born to their 18th birthday.

So, the next time you find yourself short on time, stop and remind yourself that their childhood will pass quickly into adulthood. Then ask yourself, “Are you making every moment with your child truly count?”

For most of us, when we think back to our childhood it is the simple things that we tend to remember the most.