Yesterday I was in the kitchen with my daughter when the oven timer (which we usually use for special time) went off. ”Hey!” I said in a playful way, ”I didn’t put the timer on for special time! Who said it was special time?” My daughter laughed.

Seeing a good opportunity to keep the giggles going I said, ”I hope no-one puts the timer on again because this is NOT special time. This is serious tidying up time.” Cue lots of giggles and putting the timer on for 1 minute, and then me acting all confused when it went off, again and again.

If your child is complaining that they want special time, and you can’t give it to them or have more than one child with you, then this can be a fun way to release tension about the desperate need to have special time.

My daughter was soon offering to help me tidy up, which is a sure sign she was feeling well-connected.

If your child is too young to set the timer off themselves, you can set it for them sneakily and then act all confused when it goes off. We also love playing this with my phone timer and get lots of laughs by changing the ring tone, and then acting all surprised each time there’s a new, crazy sounding tone.

Have fun!